HighTower Advisors LLC Grows Position in SouthState Co. (NASDAQ:SSB)

HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of SouthState Co. (NASDAQ:SSB) by 33.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,877 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,724 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in SouthState were worth $1,480,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System raised its stake in shares of SouthState by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 21,200 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,109,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc boosted its position in SouthState by 5.7% during the 4th quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 2,324 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $231,000 after purchasing an additional 126 shares during the period. Caprock Group LLC grew its stake in SouthState by 5.8% during the 4th quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 2,567 shares of the bank’s stock worth $255,000 after buying an additional 140 shares during the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in SouthState by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 22,635 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,252,000 after purchasing an additional 141 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Independent Advisor Alliance raised its holdings in shares of SouthState by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 27,914 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,777,000 after buying an additional 145 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on the stock. Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $130.00 price objective on shares of SouthState in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Citigroup raised SouthState from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $106.00 to $128.00 in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, UBS Group assumed coverage on SouthState in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $132.00 price target for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $115.44.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO William E. V. Matthews sold 6,531 shares of SouthState stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $108.29, for a total value of $707,241.99. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 34,107 shares in the company, valued at $3,693,447.03. This trade represents a 16.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Sara Arana sold 1,991 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.78, for a total transaction of $200,652.98. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,787 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $482,433.86. The trade was a 29.37 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

SouthState Stock Up 2.8 %

Shares of SSB opened at $95.05 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $99.46 and a 200-day simple moving average of $100.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.91. SouthState Co. has a 52 week low of $70.68 and a 52 week high of $114.27. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.66 and a beta of 0.68.

SouthState Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th were issued a $0.54 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $2.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.27%. SouthState’s payout ratio is presently 31.03%.

SouthState Company Profile

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.