Swiss National Bank Has $18.19 Million Stock Holdings in SouthState Co. (NASDAQ:SSB)

Swiss National Bank boosted its stake in SouthState Co. (NASDAQ:SSB - Free Report) by 30.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 195,930 shares of the bank's stock after purchasing an additional 45,993 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank owned approximately 0.19% of SouthState worth $18,186,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Deutsche Bank AG grew its stake in shares of SouthState by 53.6% during the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 129,255 shares of the bank's stock valued at $11,997,000 after acquiring an additional 45,122 shares in the last quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC grew its stake in shares of SouthState by 7.9% during the first quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 2,885 shares of the bank's stock valued at $252,000 after acquiring an additional 211 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew 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 in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of SouthState by 31.2% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,079,578 shares of the bank's stock valued at $1,028,406,000 after acquiring an additional 2,637,786 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Westwood Holdings Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of SouthState by 36.2% during the first quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 990,535 shares of the bank's stock valued at $91,941,000 after acquiring an additional 263,194 shares in the last quarter. 89.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. DA Davidson lifted their price target on SouthState from $115.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Truist Financial assumed coverage on SouthState in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $106.00 price target for the company. 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 lifted their price target on SouthState from $97.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on SouthState from $130.00 to $120.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $115.27.

SouthState Trading Down 2.0%

NASDAQ SSB traded down $1.96 on Friday, hitting $95.57. 813,110 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 938,743. SouthState Co. has a 52-week low of $77.74 and a 52-week high of $114.26. 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 company has a market capitalization of $9.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.73 and a beta of 0.79. The company's 50-day moving average price is $93.59 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $92.88.

SouthState (NASDAQ:SSB - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. SouthState had a net margin of 22.38% and a return on equity of 9.62%. The business had revenue of $840.50 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $645.12 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.74 EPS. Research analysts predict that SouthState Co. will post 8.12 EPS for the current year.

SouthState Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Friday, August 8th were paid a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 8th. 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 yield of 2.5%. SouthState's payout ratio is presently 35.77%.

Insider Transactions at SouthState

In other news, Director G Stacy Smith purchased 2,500 shares of SouthState stock in a transaction on Friday, August 1st. The shares were purchased at an average cost 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 ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Janet P. Froetscher acquired 3,338 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 30th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $97.31 per share, for a total transaction of $324,820.78. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 8,294 shares of the company's stock, valued at $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. In the last three months, insiders purchased 8,338 shares of company stock worth $786,321. 1.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.