Sciencast Management LP Makes New Investment in SouthState Co. $SSB

Key Points

• Sciencast Management LP invested $306,000 in SouthState Co. by purchasing 3,300 shares, as revealed in its recent Form 13F filing.
• Institutional investors hold approximately 89.76% of SouthState's stock, with Vanguard Group increasing its stake by 31.2% to about $1.03 billion.
• SouthState recently raised its quarterly dividend to $0.60 per share, yielding 2.4%, a notable increase from the previous $0.54 dividend.

Sciencast Management LP bought a new stake in SouthState Co. (NASDAQ:SSB - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 3,300 shares of the bank's stock, valued at approximately $306,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in SouthState by 31.2% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,079,578 shares of the bank's stock worth $1,028,406,000 after purchasing an additional 2,637,786 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in SouthState by 34.3% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,556,410 shares of the bank's stock worth $422,915,000 after purchasing an additional 1,164,348 shares in the last quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. raised its holdings in SouthState by 2,221.8% during the fourth quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 727,341 shares of the bank's stock worth $72,356,000 after purchasing an additional 696,014 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in SouthState during the first quarter worth approximately $62,230,000. Finally, FJ Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in SouthState by 286.3% during the first quarter. FJ Capital Management LLC now owns 556,226 shares of the bank's stock worth $51,629,000 after purchasing an additional 412,242 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.76% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SSB has been the topic of a number of research reports. 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 reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $117.00 target price (up from $113.00) on shares of SouthState in a report on Monday, July 28th. 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. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of SouthState in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. They issued a "buy" rating and a $110.00 target price on the stock. 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, July 28th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $115.27.

Insider Activity at SouthState

In other SouthState news, insider Daniel E. Bockhorst sold 5,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction 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 directly owned 31,785 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,165,786. The trade was a 13.59% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director G Stacy Smith bought 2,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 1st. The shares were bought at an average price of $92.30 per share, for a total transaction of $230,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 39,546 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,650,095.80. This represents a 6.75% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have bought a total of 8,338 shares of company stock worth $786,321 in the last three months. Insiders own 1.70% of the company's stock.

SouthState Stock Performance

NASDAQ:SSB traded down $0.89 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $101.31. The stock had a trading volume of 569,164 shares, compared to its average volume of 912,286. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $97.81 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $92.44. SouthState Co. has a 12-month low of $77.74 and a 12-month high of $114.26. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The stock has a market cap of $10.25 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 for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.98 by $0.32. SouthState had a net margin of 22.38% and a return on equity of 9.62%. The firm had revenue of $840.50 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $645.12 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.74 EPS. On average, equities 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. Investors of record on Friday, August 8th were given a $0.60 dividend. This is a positive change from SouthState's previous quarterly dividend of $0.54. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 8th. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.4%. SouthState's payout ratio is 35.77%.

SouthState 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.