Virtu Financial LLC Makes New $349,000 Investment in SouthState Co. (NASDAQ:SSB)

Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of SouthState Co. (NASDAQ:SSB) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 4,132 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $349,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of SouthState in the fourth quarter valued at about $75,485,000. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in shares of SouthState by 26.8% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,208,224 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $186,485,000 after acquiring an additional 466,144 shares during the period. Capital World Investors boosted its position in shares of SouthState by 31.8% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 620,510 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $52,402,000 after acquiring an additional 149,745 shares during the period. Capital International Investors boosted its position in shares of SouthState by 24.2% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 596,520 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $50,376,000 after acquiring an additional 116,313 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of SouthState by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,882,211 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $243,408,000 after acquiring an additional 94,637 shares during the period. 89.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

SouthState Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ SSB opened at $73.06 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The company has a market cap of $5.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.92 and a beta of 0.71. SouthState Co. has a 12 month low of $63.36 and a 12 month high of $87.77. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $77.25 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $80.70.

SouthState (NASDAQ:SSB) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The bank reported $1.58 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.55 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $415.49 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $414.32 million. SouthState had a return on equity of 9.24% and a net margin of 20.91%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.93 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that SouthState Co. will post 6.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SouthState Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 10th were paid a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.85%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 9th. SouthState’s payout ratio is 33.93%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on SSB shares. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of SouthState from $95.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 29th. Raymond James raised shares of SouthState from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $90.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on SouthState from $92.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 28th. Finally, Truist Financial dropped their price target on SouthState from $89.00 to $84.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $91.00.

About SouthState

SouthState Corporation operates as the bank holding company for SouthState Bank, National Association that provides a range of banking services and products to individuals and companies. It offers checking accounts, savings deposits, interest-bearing transaction accounts, certificates of deposits, money market accounts, and other time deposits, as well as bond accounting, asset/liability consulting related activities, and other clearing and corporate checking account services.