Strs Ohio Buys New Shares in SouthState Co. $SSB

Key Points

• Strs Ohio has invested approximately $8.8 million in SouthState Co. by acquiring 94,756 shares in the first quarter, representing a 0.09% ownership of the bank.
• Analysts have adjusted target prices for SouthState, with Barclays and DA Davidson raising theirs to $120.00 and $117.00 respectively, reflecting a positive outlook on the stock.
• SouthState recently increased its quarterly dividend from $0.54 to $0.60 per share, resulting in an annualized dividend of $2.40 and a yield of 2.4%.

Strs Ohio bought a new position in SouthState Co. (NASDAQ:SSB - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 94,756 shares of the bank's stock, valued at approximately $8,795,000. Strs Ohio owned about 0.09% of SouthState as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on SSB shares. Barclays upped their price objective on 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 started coverage on SouthState in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. They issued a "buy" rating and a $110.00 price objective on the stock. DA Davidson upped their price objective on SouthState from $115.00 to $117.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Citigroup reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $117.00 price objective (up previously from $113.00) on shares of SouthState in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Finally, Hovde Group upped their price objective on SouthState from $97.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $115.27.

SouthState Stock Performance

SSB stock traded up $2.31 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $103.53. 638,785 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 906,701. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.48 billion, a PE ratio of 14.87 and a beta of 0.74. SouthState Co. has a 52 week low of $77.74 and a 52 week high of $114.26. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $98.17 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $92.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.91.

SouthState (NASDAQ:SSB - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The bank reported $2.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.98 by $0.32. The firm had revenue of $840.50 million for 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 firm posted $1.74 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that SouthState Co. will post 8.12 EPS for the current year.

SouthState Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 8th were issued a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 8th. This is an increase from SouthState's previous quarterly dividend of $0.54. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.3%. SouthState's payout ratio is currently 35.77%.

Insider Transactions at SouthState

In other news, insider Daniel E. Bockhorst sold 5,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.60, for a total value of $498,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 31,785 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,165,786. This represents a 13.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director G Stacy Smith purchased 2,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 acquisition, 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 disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have bought 8,338 shares of company stock valued at $786,321. 1.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.