SouthState Co. (NASDAQ:SSB) Shares Purchased by Citigroup Inc.

Citigroup Inc. increased its holdings in shares of SouthState Co. (NASDAQ:SSB - Free Report) by 9.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 245,603 shares of the bank's stock after acquiring an additional 20,450 shares during the quarter. Citigroup Inc. owned approximately 0.24% of SouthState worth $22,797,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bank of Montreal Can acquired a new stake in shares of SouthState in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $213,000. Advisory Services Network LLC acquired a new stake in shares of SouthState in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $201,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of SouthState in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $5,682,000. Bragg Financial Advisors Inc increased its stake in shares of SouthState by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Bragg Financial Advisors Inc now owns 2,776 shares of the bank's stock valued at $276,000 after purchasing an additional 115 shares during the period. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd increased its stake in shares of SouthState by 244.7% in the fourth quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 15,800 shares of the bank's stock valued at $1,572,000 after purchasing an additional 11,216 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.76% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director G Stacy Smith acquired 2,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 1st. The stock was purchased at an average price of $92.30 per share, with a total value of $230,750.00. Following the purchase, 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 position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Janet P. Froetscher acquired 3,338 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 30th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $97.31 per share, with a total value of $324,820.78. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 8,294 shares in the company, valued at approximately $807,089.14. This trade represents a 67.35% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have purchased 8,338 shares of company stock valued at $786,321 over the last 90 days. 1.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

SouthState Trading Up 3.8%

Shares of NASDAQ:SSB opened at $95.52 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.72 and a beta of 0.79. SouthState Co. has a 1-year low of $77.74 and a 1-year high of $114.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.91. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $93.07 and a 200 day moving average price of $92.99.

SouthState (NASDAQ:SSB - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The bank reported $2.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.98 by $0.32. The firm had revenue of $840.50 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $645.12 million. SouthState had a net margin of 22.38% and a return on equity of 9.62%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.74 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate 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 will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Friday, August 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 8th. This is a positive change 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 35.77%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SSB has been the topic of several analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on shares of SouthState from $130.00 to $120.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Citigroup restated a "buy" rating and issued a $117.00 price target (up previously from $113.00) on shares of SouthState in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of SouthState in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. They issued a "buy" rating and a $110.00 price target on the stock. Truist Financial assumed coverage on shares of SouthState in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $106.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Raymond James Financial set a $110.00 price objective on shares of SouthState in a report on Monday, April 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $115.27.

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.

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