HighTower Advisors LLC Purchases 148,298 Shares of SouthState Co. $SSB

Key Points

• HighTower Advisors LLC significantly increased its stake in SouthState Co. by 996.8% in Q1, acquiring an additional 148,298 shares for a total of 163,175 shares valued at approximately $15.1 million.
• SouthState Co. reported a strong Q2 earnings with an EPS of $2.30, surpassing estimates by $0.32, and generated $840.5 million in revenue, compared to a $645.12 million consensus estimate.
• The company announced a dividend increase to $0.60 per share, reflecting an annualized dividend of $2.40 and a yield of 2.5%, marking a rise from the previous quarterly dividend of $0.54.

HighTower Advisors LLC increased its holdings in SouthState Co. (NASDAQ:SSB - Free Report) by 996.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 163,175 shares of the bank's stock after buying an additional 148,298 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC owned 0.16% of SouthState worth $15,146,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in SSB. Aquatic Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of SouthState in the fourth quarter worth $45,000. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its position in shares of SouthState by 577.4% in the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 569 shares of the bank's stock worth $53,000 after buying an additional 485 shares in the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB raised its position in shares of SouthState by 181.7% in the first quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 586 shares of the bank's stock worth $54,000 after buying an additional 378 shares in the last quarter. Collier Financial purchased a new stake in shares of SouthState in the first quarter worth $69,000. Finally, Bayforest Capital Ltd raised its position in shares of SouthState by 253.3% in the first quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd now owns 756 shares of the bank's stock worth $70,000 after buying an additional 542 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.76% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on SSB shares. Stephens reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $119.00 price objective on shares of SouthState in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Barclays increased their target price on SouthState from $117.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Hovde Group increased their target price on SouthState from $97.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on SouthState in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. They issued a "buy" rating and a $110.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Citigroup reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $117.00 target price (up previously from $113.00) on shares of SouthState in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $115.27.

SouthState Stock Down 0.1%

SSB traded down $0.06 on Thursday, hitting $96.54. The company had a trading volume of 161,062 shares, compared to its average volume of 926,395. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.91. SouthState Co. has a 52-week low of $77.74 and a 52-week high of $114.26. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $93.96 and a 200-day simple moving average of $92.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.89 and a beta of 0.79.

SouthState (NASDAQ:SSB - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The bank reported $2.30 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 period last year, the business posted $1.74 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that SouthState Co. will post 8.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

SouthState Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 8th were issued a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 8th. This is a positive change from SouthState's previous quarterly dividend of $0.54. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.5%. SouthState's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.77%.

Insider Activity at SouthState

In other SouthState news, Director G Stacy Smith bought 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 1st. The stock was purchased 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 owned 39,546 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,650,095.80. This trade represents a 6.75% increase in their ownership of the stock. 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 stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 30th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $97.31 per share, with a total value of $324,820.78. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 8,294 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $807,089.14. The trade was a 67.35% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have bought 8,338 shares of company stock valued at $786,321 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.70% of the company's stock.

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.