Empowered Funds LLC Boosts Holdings in Southern First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFST)

Empowered Funds LLC raised its stake in shares of Southern First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFST) by 4.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 15,105 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 675 shares during the quarter. Empowered Funds LLC owned about 0.19% of Southern First Bancshares worth $600,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of SFST. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake 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 valued at $5,835,000 after acquiring an additional 3,154 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 1,645 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in shares of Southern First Bancshares by 43.4% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 44,643 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,775,000 after purchasing an additional 13,503 shares in the last quarter. Fourthstone LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southern First Bancshares in the third quarter worth about $1,155,000. Finally, Barclays PLC increased its holdings in shares of Southern First Bancshares by 47.2% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 25,303 shares of the bank’s stock worth $862,000 after purchasing an additional 8,111 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.00% of the company’s stock.

Southern First Bancshares Price Performance

Shares of Southern First Bancshares stock opened at $35.78 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $291.96 million, a PE ratio of 18.64 and a beta of 0.83. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $38.03 and a 200 day moving average of $36.87. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. Southern First Bancshares, Inc. has a 12 month low of $24.98 and a 12 month high of $45.90.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern First Bancshares

In other Southern First Bancshares news, CAO Julie Ann Fairchild sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $264,143.20. The trade was a 14.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 7.62% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.