Wellington Management Group LLP Decreases Stake in Southern First Bancshares, Inc. $SFST

Key Points

• Wellington Management Group LLP reduced its stake in Southern First Bancshares by 47.9%, holding 34,109 shares after selling 31,331 shares in the first quarter.
• Southern First Bancshares reported earnings of $0.81 per share, exceeding analysts' expectations of $0.65, and generated $28.63 million in revenue for the quarter.
• Piper Sandler raised the price target for Southern First Bancshares to $51.00, maintaining an "overweight" rating on the stock, reflecting positive analyst sentiment.

Wellington Management Group LLP reduced its holdings in Southern First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFST - Free Report) by 47.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 34,109 shares of the bank's stock after selling 31,331 shares during the quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP owned 0.42% of Southern First Bancshares worth $1,123,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of SFST. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Southern First Bancshares by 9,638.9% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 7,012 shares of the bank's stock valued at $213,000 after purchasing an additional 6,940 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG bought a new stake in shares of Southern First Bancshares during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $286,000. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in shares of Southern First Bancshares by 4.0% during the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 101,461 shares of the bank's stock valued at $3,340,000 after purchasing an additional 3,902 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Southern First Bancshares by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 350,875 shares of the bank's stock valued at $13,947,000 after purchasing an additional 10,854 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE boosted its position in shares of Southern First Bancshares by 36.9% during the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 9,114 shares of the bank's stock valued at $362,000 after purchasing an additional 2,455 shares in the last quarter. 75.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Southern First Bancshares Stock Performance

Southern First Bancshares stock traded down $0.25 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $45.10. 2,490 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 18,912. The stock has a market capitalization of $368.92 million, a PE ratio of 16.70 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 1.10 and a quick ratio of 1.09. Southern First Bancshares, Inc. has a 12-month low of $29.14 and a 12-month high of $46.00. The business's 50-day moving average is $41.80 and its 200-day moving average is $36.98.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Southern First Bancshares from $43.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, According to MarketBeat, Southern First Bancshares has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $51.00.

Insider Activity at Southern First Bancshares

In other news, Director Leighton M. Cubbage sold 1,083 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.72, for a total value of $38,684.76. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 51,205 shares in the company, valued at $1,829,042.60. The trade was a 2.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 7.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Southern First Bancshares Company Profile

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.