Jane Street Group LLC Trims Stock Position in Southern First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFST)

Jane Street Group LLC lowered its stake in shares of Southern First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFST) by 8.3% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 7,462 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 678 shares during the period. Jane Street Group LLC’s holdings in Southern First Bancshares were worth $254,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Southern First Bancshares by 3.2% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 323,001 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $9,444,000 after buying an additional 10,138 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Southern First Bancshares by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 156,538 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $5,335,000 after buying an additional 1,645 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its stake in shares of Southern First Bancshares by 9.2% during the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 92,293 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,699,000 after buying an additional 7,786 shares during the last quarter. Fourthstone LLC purchased a new position in shares of Southern First Bancshares during the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,155,000. Finally, Gabelli Funds LLC raised its stake in shares of Southern First Bancshares by 31.5% during the 2nd quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 33,468 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $979,000 after buying an additional 8,025 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.00% of the company’s stock.

Southern First Bancshares Stock Performance

NASDAQ SFST opened at $33.64 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $41.47 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $35.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $274.50 million, a P/E ratio of 19.45 and a beta of 0.85. Southern First Bancshares, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $24.98 and a fifty-two week high of $45.90. 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 posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The bank reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 analysts’ expectations of $23.57 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.51 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Southern First Bancshares, Inc. will post 1.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Julie Ann Fairchild sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.23, for a total transaction of $45,230.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 5,840 shares in the company, valued at $264,143.20. This trade represents a 14.62 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 7.62% of the company’s stock.

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.