Intech Investment Management LLC Boosts Stake in SouthState Co. $SSB

Key Points

• Intech Investment Management LLC increased its stake in SouthState Co. by 48.4% during the first quarter, owning 46,120 shares valued at approximately $4.28 million.
• SouthState recently reported its quarterly earnings, with earnings per share of $2.30, exceeding analysts' estimates, and announced an increase in its dividend to $0.60 per share.
• Wall Street analysts have generally rated SouthState positively, with a consensus target price of $115.27 and several analysts issuing "buy" ratings.

Intech Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in SouthState Co. (NASDAQ:SSB - Free Report) by 48.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 46,120 shares of the bank's stock after purchasing an additional 15,034 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC's holdings in SouthState were worth $4,281,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its holdings in shares of SouthState by 44.5% during the 1st quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 300,047 shares of the bank's stock worth $27,850,000 after acquiring an additional 92,342 shares in the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of SouthState by 153.6% during the 1st quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 10,229 shares of the bank's stock valued at $949,000 after buying an additional 6,196 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of SouthState by 68.1% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,172 shares of the bank's stock valued at $109,000 after buying an additional 475 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its position in shares of SouthState by 5.0% during the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,093,176 shares of the bank's stock valued at $100,856,000 after buying an additional 51,933 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State of Alaska Department of Revenue raised its position in shares of SouthState by 32.1% during the 1st quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 11,492 shares of the bank's stock valued at $1,066,000 after buying an additional 2,790 shares in the last quarter. 89.76% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. DA Davidson upped their price objective on SouthState from $115.00 to $117.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on SouthState in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. They set a "buy" rating and a $110.00 price target on the stock. Barclays increased their price target on SouthState from $117.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, July 28th. 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. Finally, Hovde Group increased their price objective on shares of SouthState from $97.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $115.27.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Janet P. Froetscher acquired 3,338 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 30th. The shares were acquired at an average cost 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 in the company, valued at approximately $807,089.14. This trade represents a 67.35% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Daniel E. Bockhorst sold 5,000 shares of the 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 transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have acquired 8,338 shares of company stock worth $786,321 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 1.70% of the company's stock.

SouthState Stock Performance

SouthState stock traded up $1.93 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $103.15. The company had a trading volume of 184,827 shares, compared to its average volume of 904,071. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick 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 company's fifty day moving average is $98.05 and its 200-day moving average is $92.46. The company has a market capitalization of $10.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.82 and a beta of 0.74.

SouthState (NASDAQ:SSB - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The bank reported $2.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 the consensus estimate of $645.12 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.74 earnings per share. Equities 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. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 8th were given a dividend of $0.60 per share. 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 dividend yield of 2.3%. SouthState's payout ratio is 35.77%.

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.