670,440 Shares in SouthState Co. (NASDAQ:SSB) Purchased by Nuveen LLC

Key Points

• Nuveen LLC acquired 670,440 shares of SouthState Co. (NASDAQ:SSB), valued at approximately $62.23 million, reflecting an ownership stake of 0.66% as per their latest SEC filing.
• Insider trading activity included Director G Stacy Smith and Director Janet P. Froetscher purchasing shares, with Froetscher increasing her stake by 67.35% through the acquisition of 3,338 shares.
• SouthState recently increased its quarterly dividend to $0.60, up from $0.54, with an annualized dividend yield of 2.5% and a payout ratio of 35.77%.

Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of SouthState Co. (NASDAQ:SSB - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 670,440 shares of the bank's stock, valued at approximately $62,230,000. Nuveen LLC owned 0.66% of SouthState as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of SSB. Aquatic Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in SouthState in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its holdings in SouthState by 577.4% in the first 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 period. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB lifted its holdings in SouthState by 181.7% in the first 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 period. Collier Financial acquired a new position in SouthState in the first quarter valued at approximately $69,000. Finally, Bayforest Capital Ltd lifted its holdings in SouthState by 253.3% in the first quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd now owns 756 shares of the bank's stock valued at $70,000 after acquiring an additional 542 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.76% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at SouthState

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

SouthState Stock Up 2.3%

Shares of NASDAQ:SSB opened at $97.71 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The business has a fifty day moving average of $93.27 and a two-hundred day moving average of $93.02. The stock has a market cap of $9.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.04 and a beta of 0.79. 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 issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The bank reported $2.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.98 by $0.32. The company had revenue of $840.50 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $645.12 million. SouthState had a return on equity of 9.62% and a net margin of 22.38%. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.74 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that SouthState Co. will post 8.12 earnings per share for the current year.

SouthState Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 8th will be paid a $0.60 dividend. This is a boost from SouthState's previous quarterly dividend of $0.54. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 8th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.5%. SouthState's dividend payout ratio is currently 35.77%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on SSB. Stephens restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $119.00 price objective on shares of SouthState in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Truist Financial began coverage on SouthState in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $106.00 price objective for the company. Hovde Group boosted their price objective on SouthState from $97.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Raymond James Financial set a $110.00 price objective on SouthState in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on SouthState from $117.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, SouthState presently has a consensus 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.

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