2,751 Shares in SouthState Co. $SSB Bought by Hancock Whitney Corp

Key Points

• Hancock Whitney Corp purchased 2,751 shares of SouthState Co., valued at approximately $255,000, marking a growing interest in the bank's stock.
• SouthState recently reported earnings of $2.30 per share, exceeding analysts' expectations of $1.98, and announced an increased quarterly dividend of $0.60.
• Institutional investors own 89.76% of SouthState's stock, indicating strong backing from major funds and investors.

Hancock Whitney Corp purchased a new position in shares of SouthState Co. (NASDAQ:SSB - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 2,751 shares of the bank's stock, valued at approximately $255,000.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its position in shares of SouthState by 44.5% in the first quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 300,047 shares of the bank's stock worth $27,850,000 after acquiring an additional 92,342 shares during the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of SouthState by 153.6% in the first quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 10,229 shares of the bank's stock worth $949,000 after acquiring an additional 6,196 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of SouthState by 68.1% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,172 shares of the bank's stock worth $109,000 after acquiring an additional 475 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its position in shares of SouthState by 5.0% in the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,093,176 shares of the bank's stock worth $100,856,000 after acquiring an additional 51,933 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State of Alaska Department of Revenue boosted its position in shares of SouthState by 32.1% in the first quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 11,492 shares of the bank's stock worth $1,066,000 after acquiring an additional 2,790 shares during the last quarter. 89.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on SSB shares. Truist Financial started coverage on shares of SouthState in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $106.00 target price on the stock. DA Davidson raised their target price on shares of SouthState from $115.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Citigroup reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $117.00 target price (up from $113.00) on shares of SouthState in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of SouthState from $117.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Finally, Hovde Group raised their price target 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. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, SouthState presently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $115.27.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Daniel E. Bockhorst sold 5,000 shares of SouthState 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 owned 31,785 shares in the company, valued at $3,165,786. This trade represents a 13.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Janet P. Froetscher acquired 3,338 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 30th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $97.31 per share, for a total transaction of $324,820.78. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 8,294 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $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. Insiders have bought 8,338 shares of company stock worth $786,321 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 1.70% of the company's stock.

SouthState Trading Up 0.3%

NASDAQ SSB traded up $0.31 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $101.34. The company's stock had a trading volume of 513,331 shares, compared to its average volume of 916,608. SouthState Co. has a 52-week low of $77.74 and a 52-week high of $114.26. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $97.61 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $92.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.56 and a beta of 0.74.

SouthState (NASDAQ:SSB - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The bank reported $2.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.98 by $0.32. The company had revenue of $840.50 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $645.12 million. SouthState had a net margin of 22.38% and a return on equity of 9.62%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.74 earnings per share. Research analysts expect 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 paid a dividend of $0.60 per share. This is an increase from SouthState's previous quarterly dividend of $0.54. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 8th. SouthState's payout ratio is 35.77%.

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.