United Services Automobile Association Takes Position in SouthState Co. $SSB

Key Points

• United Services Automobile Association purchased 6,402 shares of SouthState Co. valued at approximately $590,000 in the first quarter.
• SouthState recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.60 per share, up from the previous $0.54, leading to an annualized dividend of $2.40 and a yield of 2.4%.
• Analysts have a consensus target price of $115.27 for SouthState, with ratings skewed toward "buy," indicating a positive outlook for the company's stock.

United Services Automobile Association purchased a new stake in shares of SouthState Co. (NASDAQ:SSB - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm purchased 6,402 shares of the bank's stock, valued at approximately $590,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in SSB. Rise Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of SouthState during the 1st quarter valued at about $33,000. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its holdings in shares of SouthState by 577.4% during the 1st quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 569 shares of the bank's stock valued at $53,000 after acquiring an additional 485 shares during the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its holdings 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 valued at $54,000 after acquiring an additional 378 shares during the last quarter. Summit Securities Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of SouthState by 81.5% during the 1st 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 last quarter. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of SouthState by 1,103.4% during the 1st 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 last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.76% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

SouthState Stock Performance

Shares of SSB traded down $0.10 on Monday, reaching $101.15. The company's stock had a trading volume of 116,785 shares, compared to its average volume of 907,586. SouthState Co. has a 12-month low of $77.74 and a 12-month high of $114.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.54 and a beta of 0.74. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $97.81 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $92.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.91.

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

SouthState Increases Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Janet P. Froetscher bought 3,338 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 30th. The shares were bought at an average price of $97.31 per share, for a total transaction of $324,820.78. Following the purchase, the director owned 8,294 shares in the company, valued at approximately $807,089.14. The trade was a 67.35% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Daniel E. Bockhorst sold 5,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.60, for a total transaction of $498,000.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 31,785 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,165,786. The trade was a 13.59% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have bought 8,338 shares of company stock worth $786,321. Company insiders own 1.70% of the company's stock.

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.