Southern First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFST) Director Anna T. Locke Purchases 360 Shares

Southern First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFST) Director Anna T. Locke purchased 360 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $37.01 per share, for a total transaction of $13,323.60. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 2,582 shares in the company, valued at approximately $95,559.82. The trade was a 16.20 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

Southern First Bancshares Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of Southern First Bancshares stock opened at $36.17 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $295.15 million, a P/E ratio of 18.84 and a beta of 0.83. Southern First Bancshares, Inc. has a 52-week low of $24.98 and a 52-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. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $38.48 and its 200 day simple moving average is $36.83.

Southern First Bancshares (NASDAQ:SFST) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The bank reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.41 by $0.29. Southern First Bancshares had a net margin of 7.28% and a return on equity of 4.85%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Southern First Bancshares, Inc. will post 1.85 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Southern First Bancshares

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Koss Olinger Consulting LLC bought a new position in shares of Southern First Bancshares in the fourth quarter worth $1,685,000. Fourthstone LLC purchased a new position in Southern First Bancshares during the third quarter worth about $1,155,000. American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in Southern First Bancshares by 18.1% in the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 97,559 shares of the bank’s stock worth $3,878,000 after acquiring an additional 14,966 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in shares of Southern First Bancshares by 43.4% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 44,643 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,775,000 after acquiring an additional 13,503 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of Southern First Bancshares by 84.4% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 26,769 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,064,000 after acquiring an additional 12,251 shares during the last quarter. 75.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.