SouthState Co. $SSB Shares Acquired by Raymond James Financial Inc.

Key Points

• Raymond James Financial Inc. significantly increased its holdings in SouthState Co. by 150.2%, acquiring an additional 85,816 shares to own a total of 142,933 shares valued at approximately $13.3 million.
• SouthState recently reported an earnings per share (EPS) of $2.30, surpassing analysts' expectations and indicating strong financial performance in the last quarter.
• The firm declared a quarterly dividend increase to $0.60 per share, which reflects a positive change from the previous dividend of $0.54, representing an annualized yield of 2.4%.

Raymond James Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in SouthState Co. (NASDAQ:SSB - Free Report) by 150.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 142,933 shares of the bank's stock after acquiring an additional 85,816 shares during the quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. owned about 0.14% of SouthState worth $13,266,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of SSB. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in SouthState by 31.2% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,079,578 shares of the bank's stock valued at $1,028,406,000 after purchasing an additional 2,637,786 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of SouthState by 34.3% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,556,410 shares of the bank's stock valued at $422,915,000 after acquiring an additional 1,164,348 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in shares of SouthState by 14.4% during the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,769,537 shares of the bank's stock valued at $164,249,000 after acquiring an additional 222,818 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of SouthState by 38.2% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,437,262 shares of the bank's stock valued at $133,407,000 after acquiring an additional 397,371 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of SouthState by 9.4% during 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.76% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at SouthState

In other news, Director G Stacy Smith bought 2,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 1st. The stock was bought at an average price of $92.30 per share, for a total transaction of $230,750.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 39,546 shares in the company, valued at $3,650,095.80. The trade was a 6.75% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Janet P. Froetscher bought 3,338 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 30th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $97.31 per share, with a total value of $324,820.78. Following the transaction, the director owned 8,294 shares in the company, valued at approximately $807,089.14. This represents a 67.35% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders bought 8,338 shares of company stock worth $786,321. 1.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on SSB shares. 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. Truist Financial started coverage on SouthState in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. They set a "buy" rating and a $106.00 target price on the stock. Citigroup restated a "buy" rating and issued a $117.00 price objective (up from $113.00) on shares of SouthState in a report on Monday, July 28th. DA Davidson raised their price objective on SouthState from $115.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, July 28th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on SouthState in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. They issued a "buy" rating and a $110.00 price objective on the stock. Two equities research 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $115.27.

SouthState Stock Up 0.6%

NASDAQ SSB traded up $0.63 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $102.69. 969,678 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 919,417. SouthState Co. has a 1-year low of $77.74 and a 1-year high of $114.26. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $96.23 and a 200-day simple moving average of $92.26. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The company has a market cap of $10.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.75 and a beta of 0.74.

SouthState (NASDAQ:SSB - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The bank reported $2.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.98 by $0.32. The firm had revenue of $840.50 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $645.12 million. SouthState had a return on equity of 9.62% and a net margin of 22.38%.During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.74 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that SouthState Co. will post 8.12 EPS for the current year.

SouthState Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 8th were given a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 8th. This is a positive change from SouthState's previous quarterly dividend of $0.54. 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.