Select Equity Group L.P. Invests $34.24 Million in SouthState Co. $SSB

Key Points

• Select Equity Group L.P. acquired 368,860 shares of SouthState Co. stock, valued at approximately $34.2 million, representing about 0.36% ownership in the bank as of its latest SEC filing.
• SouthState increased its quarterly dividend to $0.60 per share, up from $0.54, reflecting an annual yield of 2.3% and a payout ratio of 35.77%.
• The bank reported $2.30 EPS for the latest quarter, exceeding estimates, with substantial revenue growth to $840.5 million compared to prior year’s $1.74 EPS.

Select Equity Group L.P. purchased a new stake in SouthState Co. (NASDAQ:SSB - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 368,860 shares of the bank's stock, valued at approximately $34,238,000. Select Equity Group L.P. owned 0.36% of SouthState at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of SSB. Rise Advisors LLC bought a new stake in SouthState in the 1st quarter valued at $33,000. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its position in shares of SouthState by 577.4% during the 1st quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 569 shares of the bank's stock worth $53,000 after buying an additional 485 shares during the period. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB lifted its position in shares of SouthState by 181.7% during the 1st quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 586 shares of the bank's stock worth $54,000 after buying an additional 378 shares during the period. Summit Securities Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of SouthState by 81.5% during the first quarter. Summit Securities Group LLC now owns 688 shares of the bank's stock valued at $64,000 after acquiring an additional 309 shares during the period. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of SouthState by 1,103.4% during the first quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 698 shares of the bank's stock valued at $64,000 after acquiring an additional 640 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.76% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director G Stacy Smith acquired 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 1st. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $92.30 per share, for a total transaction of $230,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 39,546 shares in the company, valued at $3,650,095.80. This trade represents a 6.75% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Janet P. Froetscher acquired 3,338 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 30th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $97.31 per share, with a total value of $324,820.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 8,294 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $807,089.14. This trade represents a 67.35% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders bought a total of 8,338 shares of company stock worth $786,321 over the last three months. 1.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

SouthState Price Performance

Shares of SSB stock traded down $0.09 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $102.11. 124,331 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 909,684. The stock's 50-day moving average is $97.72 and its 200-day moving average is $92.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The stock has a market cap of $10.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.66 and a beta of 0.74. SouthState Co. has a 52 week low of $77.74 and a 52 week high of $114.26.

SouthState (NASDAQ:SSB - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The bank reported $2.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.98 by $0.32. The company had revenue of $840.50 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $645.12 million. SouthState had a return on equity of 9.62% and a net margin of 22.38%.During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.74 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that SouthState Co. will post 8.12 EPS for the current year.

SouthState Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Friday, August 8th were given a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 8th. This is a positive change from SouthState's previous quarterly dividend of $0.54. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.4%. SouthState's dividend payout ratio is 35.77%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SSB has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. DA Davidson lifted their price objective on SouthState from $115.00 to $117.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, July 28th. Citigroup reissued a "buy" rating and set a $117.00 price objective (up from $113.00) on shares of SouthState in a report on Monday, July 28th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on SouthState in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. They set a "buy" rating and a $110.00 price objective for the company. Barclays lifted their price objective on SouthState from $117.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, July 28th. Finally, Hovde Group lifted their price objective on SouthState from $97.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $115.27.

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.