SouthState Co. $SSB Holdings Lowered by Boston Partners

Key Points

• Boston Partners significantly reduced its stake in SouthState Co. by 67.5%, selling 177,099 shares and retaining about 0.08% of the company.
• Institutional investors now own 89.76% of SouthState's stock, with notable increases in holdings from Vanguard Group and others during the 1st quarter.
• SouthState recently announced a quarterly dividend increase to $0.60 per share, reflecting an annualized yield of 2.5%.

Boston Partners reduced its position in shares of SouthState Co. (NASDAQ:SSB - Free Report) by 67.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 85,137 shares of the bank's stock after selling 177,099 shares during the period. Boston Partners owned about 0.08% of SouthState worth $7,899,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Aquatic Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of SouthState during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Versant Capital Management Inc raised 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 valued at $53,000 after acquiring an additional 485 shares in the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB grew its stake in 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 last quarter. Collier Financial bought a new position in SouthState during the 1st quarter worth $69,000. Finally, Bayforest Capital Ltd grew its stake in SouthState by 253.3% during the 1st quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd now owns 756 shares of the bank's stock worth $70,000 after buying an additional 542 shares during the last quarter. 89.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at SouthState

In related news, Director G Stacy Smith bought 2,500 shares of SouthState stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 1st. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $92.30 per share, with a total value of $230,750.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Janet P. Froetscher bought 3,338 shares of SouthState stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 30th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $97.31 per share, with a total value of $324,820.78. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 8,294 shares of the company's stock, valued at $807,089.14. The trade was a 67.35% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders bought 8,338 shares of company stock valued at $786,321. Insiders own 1.70% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on SouthState in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. They set a "buy" rating and a $110.00 price objective for the company. Truist Financial assumed coverage on SouthState in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. They set a "buy" rating and a $106.00 price objective for the company. Citigroup restated a "buy" rating and set a $117.00 price objective (up from $113.00) on shares of SouthState in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Stephens restated an "overweight" rating and set a $119.00 price objective on shares of SouthState in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on SouthState from $117.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $115.27.

SouthState Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:SSB traded down $0.2080 on Wednesday, hitting $96.1420. The company's stock had a trading volume of 241,197 shares, compared to its average volume of 929,131. SouthState Co. has a 12 month low of $77.74 and a 12 month high of $114.26. The company has a market capitalization of $9.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.80 and a beta of 0.79. The stock's 50-day moving average is $93.81 and its two-hundred day moving average is $92.65. 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 (NASDAQ:SSB - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The bank reported $2.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.74 earnings per share. On average, equities 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. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 8th were issued a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.5%. This is a positive change from SouthState's previous quarterly dividend of $0.54. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 8th. SouthState's payout ratio is currently 35.77%.

SouthState 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.