Millennium Management LLC Increases Stock Holdings in SouthState Co. $SSB

Key Points

• Millennium Management LLC has increased its stake in SouthState Co. by 98.5% in the first quarter, owning approximately 283,875 shares worth $26,349,000.
• Brokerages have upgraded their ratings for SouthState, with Barclays raising their price target to $120.00 and Citigroup setting it at $117.00, indicating strong confidence in the stock's performance.
• SouthState recently raised its quarterly dividend from $0.54 to $0.60 per share, resulting in a dividend yield of 2.3%.

Millennium Management LLC increased its stake in shares of SouthState Co. (NASDAQ:SSB - Free Report) by 98.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 283,875 shares of the bank's stock after buying an additional 140,850 shares during the quarter. Millennium Management LLC owned about 0.28% of SouthState worth $26,349,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in SSB. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its position in SouthState by 577.4% in the 1st quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 569 shares of the bank's stock valued at $53,000 after buying an additional 485 shares during the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its stake in shares of SouthState by 181.7% during the 1st quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 586 shares of the bank's stock worth $54,000 after acquiring an additional 378 shares in the last quarter. Summit Securities Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of SouthState by 81.5% in the first quarter. Summit Securities Group LLC now owns 688 shares of the bank's stock valued at $64,000 after purchasing an additional 309 shares in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of SouthState by 1,103.4% in the first quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 698 shares of the bank's stock valued at $64,000 after acquiring an additional 640 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S acquired a new position in shares of SouthState in the 1st quarter valued at about $67,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.76% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at SouthState

In other SouthState news, 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 completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 31,785 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,165,786. This trade represents a 13.59% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Janet P. Froetscher bought 3,338 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the acquisition, the director owned 8,294 shares in the company, valued at approximately $807,089.14. This represents a 67.35% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders bought a total of 8,338 shares of company stock worth $786,321 over the last three months. 1.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

SouthState Price Performance

SouthState stock traded up $1.38 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $101.66. 105,363 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 903,400. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $97.98 and a two-hundred day moving average of $92.40. SouthState Co. has a 12-month low of $77.74 and a 12-month high of $114.26. The company has a market cap of $10.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.60 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The bank reported $2.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.98 by $0.32. The firm had revenue of $840.50 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $645.12 million. SouthState had a return on equity of 9.62% and a net margin of 22.38%.During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.74 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast 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 issued a $0.60 dividend. 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 of this dividend was Friday, August 8th. SouthState's dividend payout ratio is 35.77%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SSB has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of SouthState in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. They set a "buy" rating and a $110.00 price target on the stock. Citigroup reissued a "buy" rating and set a $117.00 price target (up from $113.00) on shares of SouthState in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Barclays boosted their price target on SouthState from $117.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. DA Davidson upped their price objective on SouthState from $115.00 to $117.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Finally, Hovde Group increased their target price 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 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's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target 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.