First National Advisers LLC Takes Position in SouthState Co. (NASDAQ:SSB)

Key Points

• First National Advisers LLC has acquired a new stake in SouthState Co. (NASDAQ:SSB), purchasing 6,077 shares valued at approximately $564,000 during the first quarter.
• SouthState recently reported earnings of $2.30 per share for the last quarter, surpassing analysts' expectations, with revenue reaching $840.50 million.
• The company announced an increase in its quarterly dividend from $0.54 to $0.60, resulting in a yield of 2.44%, with the payment scheduled for August 15th.

First National Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in SouthState Co. (NASDAQ:SSB - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 6,077 shares of the bank's stock, valued at approximately $564,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. LPL Financial LLC lifted its stake in SouthState by 45.1% during the 1st quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 25,664 shares of the bank's stock valued at $2,382,000 after acquiring an additional 7,975 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its stake in SouthState by 38.3% during the 1st quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 27,464 shares of the bank's stock valued at $2,549,000 after acquiring an additional 7,611 shares during the period. FourThought Financial Partners LLC lifted its stake in SouthState by 5.7% during the 1st quarter. FourThought Financial Partners LLC now owns 3,070 shares of the bank's stock valued at $285,000 after acquiring an additional 166 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc lifted its stake in SouthState by 2.9% during the 1st quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 45,946 shares of the bank's stock valued at $4,265,000 after acquiring an additional 1,274 shares during the period. Finally, HB Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in SouthState by 5.7% during the 1st quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 17,083 shares of the bank's stock valued at $1,586,000 after acquiring an additional 920 shares during the period. 89.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other SouthState news, Director Janet P. Froetscher bought 3,338 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 30th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $97.31 per share, with a total value of $324,820.78. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 8,294 shares of the company's stock, valued at $807,089.14. This represents a 67.35% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Hovde Group lifted their target price on shares of SouthState from $97.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on shares of SouthState from $130.00 to $120.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of SouthState in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. They set a "buy" rating and a $110.00 target price for the company. Truist Financial assumed coverage on shares of SouthState in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. They set a "buy" rating and a $106.00 target price for the company. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on shares of SouthState from $117.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, SouthState has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $115.27.

SouthState Price Performance

NASDAQ SSB traded down $1.44 on Thursday, hitting $94.48. The company had a trading volume of 292,614 shares, compared to its average volume of 943,925. The company has a market capitalization of $9.59 billion, a PE ratio of 13.58 and a beta of 0.77. The company's fifty day moving average price is $92.00 and its 200-day moving average price is $93.37. 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 Co. has a 12-month low of $77.74 and a 12-month high of $114.26.

SouthState (NASDAQ:SSB - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The bank reported $2.30 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $645.12 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.74 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that SouthState Co. will post 8.12 earnings per share for the current year.

SouthState Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.60 per share. This is a positive change 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.54%. SouthState's dividend payout ratio is presently 35.77%.

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.