Calton & Associates Inc. Purchases New Position in SouthState Co. $SSB

Key Points

• Calton & Associates Inc. has invested approximately $653,000 in 7,040 shares of SouthState Co. (NASDAQ:SSB) during the first quarter, reflecting growing institutional interest in the bank.
• Several major investors, including Vanguard Group Inc. and Dimensional Fund Advisors LP, have significantly increased their holdings in SouthState, with institutional ownership now at 89.76%.
• SouthState recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.60, representing an annualized amount of $2.40 with a yield of 2.4%, an increase from the previous quarterly dividend.

Calton & Associates Inc. bought a new position in shares of SouthState Co. (NASDAQ:SSB - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 7,040 shares of the bank's stock, valued at approximately $653,000.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Aquatic Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of SouthState during the fourth quarter worth about $45,000. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its holdings in shares of SouthState by 577.4% during the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 569 shares of the bank's stock worth $53,000 after purchasing an additional 485 shares during the period. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its holdings in shares of SouthState by 181.7% during the first quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 586 shares of the bank's stock worth $54,000 after purchasing an additional 378 shares during the period. Summit Securities Group LLC boosted 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 worth $64,000 after purchasing an additional 309 shares during the period. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted 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 worth $64,000 after purchasing an additional 640 shares during the period. 89.76% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $117.00 target price (up from $113.00) on shares of SouthState in a report on Monday, July 28th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of SouthState in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. They issued a "buy" rating and a $110.00 price target for the company. DA Davidson increased their price target on shares of SouthState from $115.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of SouthState from $117.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Finally, Hovde Group increased their price target on shares of SouthState from $97.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note 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 issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, SouthState has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $115.27.

SouthState Stock Down 0.5%

Shares of NASDAQ SSB traded down $0.53 on Friday, reaching $103.03. 1,352,826 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 920,032. SouthState Co. has a 12 month low of $77.74 and a 12 month high of $114.26. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $96.97 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $92.40. The company has a market cap of $10.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.80 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07.

SouthState (NASDAQ:SSB - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The bank reported $2.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $840.50 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $645.12 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.74 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that SouthState Co. will post 8.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

SouthState Increases Dividend

The firm 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 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 dividend yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 8th. SouthState's payout ratio is 35.77%.

Insider Buying and Selling at SouthState

In other news, Director G Stacy Smith purchased 2,500 shares of SouthState stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 1st. The stock was bought at an average price of $92.30 per share, with a total value of $230,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 39,546 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,650,095.80. The trade was a 6.75% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Daniel E. Bockhorst sold 5,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.60, for a total transaction of $498,000.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 31,785 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,165,786. This trade represents a 13.59% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders acquired 8,338 shares of company stock valued at $786,321. Corporate insiders own 1.70% of the company's stock.

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.