Southern First Bancshares, Inc. $SFST Stake Lessened by Assenagon Asset Management S.A.

Key Points

• Assenagon Asset Management S.A. has reduced its stake in Southern First Bancshares by 28.5%, now owning around 0.38% of the company valued at approximately $1.18 million.
• Other hedge funds, including GAMMA Investing LLC and Wellington Management Group LLP, have significantly increased their stakes in Southern First Bancshares, indicating a mixed sentiment among institutional investors.
• Southern First Bancshares reported an earnings per share (EPS) of $0.81 for the latest quarter, exceeding estimates and showing a net margin of 10.09%.

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lowered its holdings in Southern First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFST - Free Report) by 28.5% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 30,984 shares of the bank's stock after selling 12,322 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned approximately 0.38% of Southern First Bancshares worth $1,178,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Southern First Bancshares by 9,638.9% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 7,012 shares of the bank's stock worth $213,000 after acquiring an additional 6,940 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in Southern First Bancshares by 21.4% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 65,440 shares of the bank's stock worth $2,601,000 after buying an additional 11,537 shares during the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Southern First Bancshares by 0.7% during the first quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 802,974 shares of the bank's stock worth $26,434,000 after buying an additional 5,931 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG acquired a new position in Southern First Bancshares during the fourth quarter worth $286,000. Finally, Strs Ohio bought a new stake in Southern First Bancshares during the first quarter valued at about $448,000. 75.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Southern First Bancshares Stock Performance

Shares of Southern First Bancshares stock opened at $45.12 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $43.55 and a 200-day moving average of $38.20. Southern First Bancshares, Inc. has a 1-year low of $29.14 and a 1-year high of $46.40. The company has a current ratio of 1.10, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. The company has a market cap of $369.08 million, a PE ratio of 16.71 and a beta of 0.84.

Southern First Bancshares (NASDAQ:SFST - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 22nd. The bank reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.65 by $0.16. Southern First Bancshares had a net margin of 10.09% and a return on equity of 6.52%. The business had revenue of $28.63 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $26.80 million. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Southern First Bancshares, Inc. will post 1.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on SFST. Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Southern First Bancshares from $43.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. Zacks Research lowered shares of Southern First Bancshares from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, September 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Southern First Bancshares has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $51.00.

About Southern First Bancshares

Southern First Bancshares, Inc operates as the bank holding company for Southern First Bank that provides commercial, consumer, and mortgage loans to the general public in South Carolina, North Carolina, and Georgia. The company accepts various deposit products that include checking accounts, commercial checking accounts, and savings accounts, as well as other time deposits, including daily money market accounts and long-term certificates of deposit.

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