5,075 Shares in SouthState Co. $SSB Acquired by Evergreen Capital Management LLC

Key Points

• Evergreen Capital Management LLC purchased 5,075 shares of SouthState Co. during the first quarter, valued at approximately $471,000.
• SouthState recently increased its quarterly dividend from $0.54 to $0.60 per share, yielding 2.4% with a payout ratio of 35.77%.
• Wall Street analysts have shown confidence in SouthState, with the stock receiving multiple buy ratings and a consensus price target of $115.27.

Evergreen Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in SouthState Co. (NASDAQ:SSB - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund acquired 5,075 shares of the bank's stock, valued at approximately $471,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of SSB. Aquatic Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of SouthState in the 4th quarter valued at $45,000. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of SouthState by 18.0% in the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 70,762 shares of the bank's stock valued at $7,039,000 after purchasing an additional 10,814 shares during the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of SouthState in the 4th quarter valued at $9,505,000. Baird Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of SouthState by 6.4% in the 4th quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,547 shares of the bank's stock valued at $253,000 after purchasing an additional 153 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cary Street Partners Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of SouthState in the 4th quarter valued at $219,000. Institutional investors own 89.76% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

SouthState Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of NASDAQ SSB traded down $0.53 during trading on Friday, reaching $103.03. The company had a trading volume of 1,362,477 shares, compared to its average volume of 921,122. The company's fifty day moving average price is $97.20 and its 200-day moving average price is $92.40. SouthState Co. has a 12 month low of $77.74 and a 12 month high of $114.26. The stock has a market cap of $10.43 billion, a P/E 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The bank reported $2.30 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.98 by $0.32. SouthState had a return on equity of 9.62% and a net margin of 22.38%.The firm had revenue of $840.50 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $645.12 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.74 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that SouthState Co. will post 8.12 earnings per share for the current year.

SouthState Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 8th were given a $0.60 dividend. This is a boost from SouthState's previous quarterly dividend of $0.54. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 8th. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.3%. SouthState's dividend payout ratio is presently 35.77%.

Insider Buying and Selling at SouthState

In other news, insider Daniel E. Bockhorst sold 5,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.60, for a total value of $498,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 31,785 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,165,786. The trade was a 13.59% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Janet P. Froetscher acquired 3,338 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 30th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $97.31 per share, for a total transaction of $324,820.78. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 8,294 shares in the company, valued at $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. In the last quarter, insiders have purchased 8,338 shares of company stock worth $786,321. 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.