Wellington Management Group LLP Has $3.20 Million Stock Holdings in Southern First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFST)

Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Southern First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFST) by 4.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 118,815 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,300 shares during the quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP owned 1.47% of Southern First Bancshares worth $3,201,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in SFST. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in shares of Southern First Bancshares by 2.3% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 29,203 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,485,000 after purchasing an additional 644 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in shares of Southern First Bancshares by 28.6% during the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 30,285 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,540,000 after purchasing an additional 6,744 shares in the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Southern First Bancshares by 55.7% during the first quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 3,316 shares of the bank’s stock worth $169,000 after purchasing an additional 1,186 shares in the last quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Southern First Bancshares by 5.5% during the first quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 19,399 shares of the bank’s stock worth $986,000 after purchasing an additional 1,017 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Southern First Bancshares by 0.9% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 288,523 shares of the bank’s stock worth $14,669,000 after purchasing an additional 2,676 shares in the last quarter. 75.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SFST has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. StockNews.com raised shares of Southern First Bancshares from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Piper Sandler raised shares of Southern First Bancshares from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $34.00 to $44.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 3rd.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern First Bancshares

In other Southern First Bancshares news, CEO R Arthur Seaver, Jr. sold 996 shares of Southern First Bancshares stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.25, for a total value of $31,125.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 83,470 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,608,437.50. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Southern First Bancshares news, CEO R Arthur Seaver, Jr. sold 996 shares of Southern First Bancshares stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.25, for a total value of $31,125.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 83,470 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,608,437.50. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO R Arthur Seaver, Jr. sold 2,500 shares of Southern First Bancshares stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.13, for a total transaction of $77,825.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 90,970 shares in the company, valued at $2,831,896.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 3,513 shares of company stock worth $109,477. Insiders own 7.72% of the company’s stock.

Southern First Bancshares Trading Up 4.9 %

SFST opened at $31.26 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $255.08 million, a P/E ratio of 18.83 and a beta of 0.78. Southern First Bancshares, Inc. has a 12 month low of $20.75 and a 12 month high of $39.36. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $33.79 and its 200 day simple moving average is $31.58. The company has a current ratio of 1.10, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00.

Southern First Bancshares (NASDAQ:SFST) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 18th. The bank reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $51.47 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $22.46 million. Southern First Bancshares had a net margin of 7.16% and a return on equity of 4.41%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Southern First Bancshares, Inc. will post 2.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.