SouthState Co. $SSB Shares Purchased by Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C.

Key Points

• Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. significantly increased its stake in SouthState Co., acquiring additional 100,000 shares, which raised their ownership by 84.2% in the first quarter.
• SouthState recently raised its quarterly dividend from $0.54 to $0.60 per share, reflecting a 2.3% yield based on an annualized payout.
• Analysts have given SouthState multiple positive ratings, with a consensus price target of $115.27 and several upgrades to their price objectives in recent reports.

Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. lifted its stake in shares of SouthState Co. (NASDAQ:SSB - Free Report) by 84.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 218,800 shares of the bank's stock after purchasing an additional 100,000 shares during the period. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. owned 0.22% of SouthState worth $20,309,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its holdings in shares of SouthState by 577.4% during the 1st quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 569 shares of the bank's stock worth $53,000 after purchasing an additional 485 shares during the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its holdings in shares of SouthState by 181.7% during the 1st quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 586 shares of the bank's stock worth $54,000 after purchasing an additional 378 shares during the last quarter. Summit Securities Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of SouthState by 81.5% during the 1st quarter. Summit Securities Group LLC now owns 688 shares of the bank's stock worth $64,000 after purchasing an additional 309 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of SouthState by 1,103.4% during the 1st quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 698 shares of the bank's stock worth $64,000 after purchasing an additional 640 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S acquired a new position in shares of SouthState during the 1st quarter worth approximately $67,000. 89.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at SouthState

In other SouthState news, insider Daniel E. Bockhorst sold 5,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.60, for a total value of $498,000.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 31,785 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,165,786. The trade was a 13.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director G Stacy Smith acquired 2,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 1st. The shares were bought at an average cost of $92.30 per share, for a total transaction of $230,750.00. Following the transaction, the director directly 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 disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have bought a total of 8,338 shares of company stock valued at $786,321 over the last quarter. 1.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

SouthState Trading Down 0.5%

NASDAQ SSB traded down $0.53 on Friday, reaching $103.03. The stock had a trading volume of 1,362,477 shares, compared to its average volume of 921,122. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.80 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. SouthState Co. has a 12-month low of $77.74 and a 12-month high of $114.26. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $97.20 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $92.26.

SouthState (NASDAQ:SSB - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The bank reported $2.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.98 by $0.32. The company had revenue of $840.50 million for 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 in the previous year, the company earned $1.74 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that SouthState Co. will post 8.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

SouthState Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 8th were given a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was 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 2.3%. SouthState's dividend payout ratio is presently 35.77%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SSB has been the topic of several analyst reports. Truist Financial initiated coverage on shares of SouthState in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. They set a "buy" rating and a $106.00 price target on the stock. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of SouthState from $117.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Hovde Group lifted their price target on shares of SouthState from $97.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. DA Davidson lifted their price target on shares of SouthState from $115.00 to $117.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $117.00 price target (up previously from $113.00) on shares of SouthState in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Two 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's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average 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.