Inspire Investing LLC Lowers Holdings in SouthState Co. $SSB

Key Points

• Inspire Investing LLC reduced its stake in SouthState Co. by 48.4% in Q1, owning 3,375 shares valued at $313,000 after selling 3,168 shares.
• Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings by 31.2%, now owning over 11 million shares valued at approximately $1.03 billion, while several other institutions also made significant changes to their stakes.
• SouthState recently reported earnings of $2.30 EPS, surpassing estimates and announced a dividend increase to $0.60 per quarter, reflecting a 2.4% yield.

Inspire Investing LLC trimmed its position in shares of SouthState Co. (NASDAQ:SSB - Free Report) by 48.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,375 shares of the bank's stock after selling 3,168 shares during the period. Inspire Investing LLC's holdings in SouthState were worth $313,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Rise Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of SouthState during the 1st quarter valued at about $33,000. Flaharty Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of SouthState during the 1st quarter valued at about $45,000. Versant Capital Management Inc raised 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 valued at $53,000 after buying an additional 485 shares in the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB raised 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 valued at $54,000 after buying an additional 378 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Summit Securities Group LLC raised 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 valued at $64,000 after buying an additional 309 shares in the last quarter. 89.76% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

SouthState Trading Down 1.8%

Shares of SSB stock traded down $1.91 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $101.55. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,932,146 shares, compared to its average volume of 912,429. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.59 and a beta of 0.74. SouthState Co. has a one year low of $77.74 and a one year high of $114.26. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $98.26 and its 200 day simple moving average is $92.53. 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 (NASDAQ:SSB - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 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 period last year, the company earned $1.74 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that SouthState Co. will post 8.12 EPS for the current year.

SouthState Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 8th were given a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 8th. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.4%. This is an increase from SouthState's previous quarterly dividend of $0.54. SouthState's dividend payout ratio is 35.77%.

Insider Transactions at SouthState

In other news, insider Daniel E. Bockhorst sold 5,000 shares of SouthState 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 directly owned 31,785 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,165,786. This trade represents a 13.59% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Janet P. Froetscher purchased 3,338 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 30th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $97.31 per share, for a total transaction of $324,820.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 8,294 shares of the company's stock, valued at $807,089.14. This represents a 67.35% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have acquired 8,338 shares of company stock worth $786,321. 1.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SSB has been the topic of a number of research reports. DA Davidson raised their price objective on SouthState from $115.00 to $117.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, July 28th. Barclays raised their price target on SouthState from $117.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Citigroup restated a "buy" rating and set a $117.00 price target (up from $113.00) on shares of SouthState in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Finally, Hovde Group raised their price target on SouthState from $97.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $115.27.

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.