Southern First Bancshares (NASDAQ:SFST) Issues Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.16 EPS

Southern First Bancshares (NASDAQ:SFST) released its earnings results on Tuesday. The bank reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.16, RTT News reports. The company had revenue of $54.35 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $23.57 million. Southern First Bancshares had a net margin of 6.67% and a return on equity of 4.41%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.51 EPS.

Southern First Bancshares Trading Down 1.7 %

SFST stock opened at $37.79 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $33.50 and a 200 day moving average price of $30.53. Southern First Bancshares has a fifty-two week low of $24.98 and a fifty-two week high of $39.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.10. The firm has a market cap of $308.22 million, a PE ratio of 23.04 and a beta of 0.81.

Insider Activity at Southern First Bancshares

In related news, Director Leighton M. Cubbage sold 2,515 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.29, for a total value of $83,724.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 54,303 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,807,746.87. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Leighton M. Cubbage sold 1,744 shares of Southern First Bancshares stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.18, for a total transaction of $54,377.92. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 58,818 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,833,945.24. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Leighton M. Cubbage sold 2,515 shares of Southern First Bancshares stock in a transaction on Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.29, for a total value of $83,724.35. Following the sale, the director now owns 54,303 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,807,746.87. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 5,549 shares of company stock valued at $178,118. 7.62% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, StockNews.com raised shares of Southern First Bancshares from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th.

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.