Southern First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFST) Shares Purchased by Empowered Funds LLC

Empowered Funds LLC grew its holdings in shares of Southern First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFST) by 4.9% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 14,430 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 670 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings in Southern First Bancshares were worth $492,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of SFST. Gabelli Funds LLC lifted its holdings in Southern First Bancshares by 181.4% in the first quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 25,443 shares of the bank’s stock worth $808,000 after purchasing an additional 16,400 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Southern First Bancshares by 4.0% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 413,259 shares of the bank’s stock worth $13,125,000 after acquiring an additional 16,012 shares during the period. Quadrature Capital Ltd bought a new position in shares of Southern First Bancshares in the first quarter valued at approximately $394,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Southern First Bancshares by 3.2% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 323,001 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $9,444,000 after acquiring an additional 10,138 shares during the period. Finally, Long Focus Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Southern First Bancshares during the second quarter worth approximately $292,000. Institutional investors own 75.00% of the company’s stock.

Southern First Bancshares Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ SFST opened at $44.01 on Monday. Southern First Bancshares, Inc. has a 1 year low of $24.98 and a 1 year high of $44.92. The firm has a market cap of $359.12 million, a P/E ratio of 25.44 and a beta of 0.79. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $37.49 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $32.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.09.

Southern First Bancshares (NASDAQ:SFST) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The bank reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.16. Southern First Bancshares had a return on equity of 4.42% and a net margin of 6.67%. The firm had revenue of $54.35 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $23.57 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.51 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Southern First Bancshares, Inc. will post 1.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Leighton M. Cubbage sold 1,290 shares of Southern First Bancshares stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.02, for a total value of $40,015.80. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 60,562 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,878,633.24. This trade represents a 2.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 5,549 shares of company stock worth $178,118. Corporate insiders own 7.62% of the company’s stock.

Southern First Bancshares 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.