Advantage Alpha Capital Partners LP Cuts Stake in SouthState Co. $SSB

Key Points

• Advantage Alpha Capital Partners LP reduced its stake in SouthState Co. by 60.8% in the first quarter, now holding 2,478 shares worth approximately $230,000.
• Vanguard Group Inc. increased its SouthState holdings by 31.2%, while several other institutional investors also boosted their stakes, leading to 89.76% institutional ownership of the stock.
• SouthState recently announced a quarterly dividend increase to $0.60 per share, marking a 2.4% yield and up from the previous $0.54 dividend.

Advantage Alpha Capital Partners LP trimmed its stake in shares of SouthState Co. (NASDAQ:SSB - Free Report) by 60.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,478 shares of the bank's stock after selling 3,851 shares during the period. Advantage Alpha Capital Partners LP's holdings in SouthState were worth $230,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised 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 worth $1,028,406,000 after buying an additional 2,637,786 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of SouthState by 34.3% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,556,410 shares of the bank's stock worth $422,915,000 after buying an additional 1,164,348 shares during the last quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of SouthState by 2,221.8% during the fourth quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 727,341 shares of the bank's stock worth $72,356,000 after buying an additional 696,014 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of SouthState during the first quarter worth approximately $62,230,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in SouthState by 38.2% in 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 purchasing an additional 397,371 shares in the last quarter. 89.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

SouthState Stock Up 1.9%

Shares of SouthState stock traded up $1.90 on Wednesday, hitting $101.94. The company had a trading volume of 761,837 shares, compared to its average volume of 920,084. SouthState Co. has a twelve month low of $77.74 and a twelve month high of $114.26. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $95.00 and a 200-day moving average of $92.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.65 and a beta of 0.79. 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 (NASDAQ:SSB - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The bank reported $2.30 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.98 by $0.32. The business 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 quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.74 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that SouthState Co. will post 8.12 earnings per share for the current year.

SouthState Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors 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. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 8th. SouthState's payout ratio is 35.77%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have commented on SSB. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on shares of SouthState from $130.00 to $120.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Hovde Group upped their target price on shares of SouthState from $97.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of SouthState from $117.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of SouthState in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. They issued a "buy" rating and a $110.00 target price for the company. Finally, Truist Financial began coverage on shares of SouthState in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $106.00 target price for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, SouthState presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $115.27.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Daniel E. Bockhorst sold 5,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,165,786. This trade represents a 13.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director G Stacy Smith bought 2,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on 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 in the company, valued at approximately $3,650,095.80. This trade represents a 6.75% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have acquired 8,338 shares of company stock valued at $786,321. 1.70% of the stock is owned by company 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.