Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Invests $283,000 in SouthState Co. (NASDAQ:SSB)

Key Points

• Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in SouthState Co. by purchasing 3,049 shares valued at approximately $283,000 during the first quarter of the year.
• SouthState recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.60 per share, which reflects a positive increase from the previous quarterly dividend of $0.54, resulting in a 2.6% dividend yield.
• Analysts have raised their price targets for SouthState, with Hovde Group increasing their target from $97.00 to $105.00 and DA Davidson setting a target of $117.00, indicating a favorable outlook on the stock.

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in SouthState Co. (NASDAQ:SSB - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 3,049 shares of the bank's stock, valued at approximately $283,000.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of SSB. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in SouthState by 9.4% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,111,758 shares of the bank's stock valued at $110,598,000 after acquiring an additional 95,841 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its stake in SouthState by 5.0% in the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,093,176 shares of the bank's stock valued at $100,856,000 after acquiring an additional 51,933 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in SouthState by 14.4% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 964,089 shares of the bank's stock valued at $89,487,000 after acquiring an additional 121,591 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its stake in SouthState by 5.7% in the fourth quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 773,843 shares of the bank's stock valued at $76,982,000 after acquiring an additional 42,041 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Westwood Holdings Group Inc. lifted its stake in SouthState by 2,221.8% in the fourth quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 727,341 shares of the bank's stock valued at $72,356,000 after acquiring an additional 696,014 shares during the last quarter. 89.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at SouthState

In other SouthState news, Director Janet P. Froetscher bought 3,338 shares of SouthState stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 30th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $97.31 per share, with a total value of $324,820.78. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 8,294 shares of the company's stock, valued at $807,089.14. The trade was a 67.35% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director G Stacy Smith bought 2,500 shares of SouthState stock in a transaction on Friday, August 1st. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $92.30 per share, for a total transaction 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. The trade was a 6.75% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have purchased a total of 8,338 shares of company stock worth $786,321 over the last ninety days. 1.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

SouthState Price Performance

SSB traded up $3.48 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $95.52. 725,131 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 943,436. SouthState Co. has a twelve month low of $77.74 and a twelve month high of $114.26. The company has a market cap of $9.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.72 and a beta of 0.79. 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 business has a 50 day moving average price of $92.93 and a 200 day moving average price of $92.97.

SouthState (NASDAQ:SSB - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The bank reported $2.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.74 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that SouthState Co. will post 8.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SouthState Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Friday, August 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.60 per share. This is a boost 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.5%. SouthState's payout ratio is presently 35.77%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on SSB shares. Stephens reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $119.00 price target on shares of SouthState in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Hovde Group raised their target price 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. Raymond James Financial set a $110.00 price objective on shares of SouthState in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Citigroup reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $117.00 price objective (up previously from $113.00) on shares of SouthState in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Finally, Truist Financial started coverage on shares of SouthState in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $106.00 price objective for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, SouthState currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $115.27.

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.