SouthState Co. (NASDAQ:SSB) Shares Purchased by HighTower Advisors LLC

HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of SouthState Co. (NASDAQ:SSB) by 7.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 11,153 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 787 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in SouthState were worth $1,083,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in SouthState by 12.6% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,328,984 shares of the bank’s stock worth $254,394,000 after acquiring an additional 371,987 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its position in shares of SouthState by 64.1% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 265,578 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $25,809,000 after purchasing an additional 103,756 shares during the period. F M Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of SouthState in the second quarter valued at $7,303,000. Stieven Capital Advisors L.P. acquired a new position in SouthState in the third quarter valued at $9,086,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in SouthState by 7.9% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 987,849 shares of the bank’s stock worth $95,999,000 after buying an additional 72,181 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

SouthState Stock Down 2.0 %

Shares of SouthState stock opened at $106.31 on Wednesday. SouthState Co. has a twelve month low of $70.68 and a twelve month high of $114.26. The stock has a market cap of $8.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.43 and a beta of 0.69. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $104.42 and a 200 day moving average price of $93.48.

SouthState (NASDAQ:SSB) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The bank reported $1.90 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.64 by $0.26. The company had revenue of $426.41 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $429.47 million. SouthState had a return on equity of 9.41% and a net margin of 21.24%. The company’s revenue was down .4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.62 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that SouthState Co. will post 6.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SouthState Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 8th were given a $0.54 dividend. This represents a $2.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.03%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. SouthState’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 33.33%.

Insider Activity

In other SouthState news, CFO William E. V. Matthews sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.00, for a total value of $500,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 36,964 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,696,400. This represents a 11.91 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 1.26% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SSB has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Stephens upgraded SouthState from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Citigroup started coverage on shares of SouthState in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $102.00 price target for the company. UBS Group started coverage on shares of SouthState in a research note on Tuesday. They set a “buy” rating and a $132.00 price target on the stock. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of SouthState from $110.00 to $112.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $120.00 target price (up from $115.00) on shares of SouthState in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $109.78.

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.