Southern First Bancshares (NASDAQ:SFST) Downgraded by Zacks Research to Hold

Key Points

• Southern First Bancshares was downgraded by Zacks Research from a "strong-buy" to a "hold" rating, which may impact investor sentiment.
• Piper Sandler raised their price target for the stock from $43.00 to $51.00 and maintained an "overweight" rating, indicating a mixed outlook from analysts.
• The company's latest earnings report revealed an EPS of $0.81, surpassing expectations and reflecting a positive operational performance.

Southern First Bancshares (NASDAQ:SFST - Get Free Report) was downgraded by analysts at Zacks Research from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a note issued to investors on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

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

Southern First Bancshares Stock Up 0.9%

NASDAQ SFST opened at $45.06 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $43.22 and a 200-day moving average of $37.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $368.59 million, a P/E ratio of 16.69 and a beta of 0.84. Southern First Bancshares has a 52 week low of $29.14 and a 52 week high of $46.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.10.

Southern First Bancshares (NASDAQ:SFST - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results 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 return on equity of 6.52% and a net margin of 10.09%.The company had revenue of $28.63 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $26.80 million. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Southern First Bancshares will post 1.85 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Southern First Bancshares

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings 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 valued at $213,000 after purchasing an additional 6,940 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of Southern First Bancshares by 21.4% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 65,440 shares of the bank's stock valued at $2,601,000 after acquiring an additional 11,537 shares during the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Southern First Bancshares by 0.7% in the first quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 802,974 shares of the bank's stock valued at $26,434,000 after acquiring an additional 5,931 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG acquired a new stake in shares of Southern First Bancshares in the fourth quarter valued at about $286,000. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in shares of Southern First Bancshares by 4.0% in the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 101,461 shares of the bank's stock valued at $3,340,000 after acquiring an additional 3,902 shares during the last quarter. 75.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.

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