Barclays PLC Boosts Stake in Southern First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFST)

Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in Southern First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFST) by 47.2% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 25,303 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,111 shares during the period. Barclays PLC’s holdings in Southern First Bancshares were worth $862,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Southern First Bancshares by 3.2% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 323,001 shares of the bank’s stock worth $9,444,000 after buying an additional 10,138 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Southern First Bancshares by 1.9% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 171,207 shares of the bank’s stock worth $5,835,000 after purchasing an additional 3,154 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in Southern First Bancshares by 1.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 156,538 shares of the bank’s stock worth $5,335,000 after purchasing an additional 1,645 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its position in shares of Southern First Bancshares by 9.2% during the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 92,293 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,699,000 after acquiring an additional 7,786 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fourthstone LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southern First Bancshares during the third quarter valued at about $1,155,000. 75.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Southern First Bancshares Price Performance

Shares of SFST opened at $36.50 on Thursday. Southern First Bancshares, Inc. has a 1-year low of $24.98 and a 1-year high of $45.90. The stock has a market cap of $297.84 million, a PE ratio of 21.10 and a beta of 0.85. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $41.20 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $36.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 1.09.

Southern First Bancshares (NASDAQ:SFST) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The bank reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.16. Southern First Bancshares had a net margin of 6.67% and a return on equity of 4.42%. The business had revenue of $54.35 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $23.57 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.51 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Southern First Bancshares, Inc. will post 1.39 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern First Bancshares

In related news, CAO Julie Ann Fairchild sold 1,000 shares of Southern First Bancshares stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.23, for a total value of $45,230.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 5,840 shares in the company, valued at approximately $264,143.20. The trade was a 14.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company 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.