Verition Fund Management LLC Boosts Stock Position in SouthState Bank Corporation $SSB

Key Points

• Verition Fund Management increased its stake in SouthState Bank by 40% in the fourth quarter, bringing its holdings to 532,971 shares worth about $50.2 million.
• SouthState Bank saw broad institutional buying, with major firms like Vanguard, Dimensional, and Geode adding shares; institutional investors and hedge funds now own 89.76% of the stock.
• The bank reported stronger-than-expected quarterly earnings of $2.28 per share, and analysts remain mostly bullish with an average Buy rating and a price target of $118.62.

Verition Fund Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of SouthState Bank Corporation (NYSE:SSB - Free Report) by 40.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 532,971 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 152,373 shares during the quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC owned approximately 0.53% of SouthState Bank worth $50,158,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in SouthState Bank by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,937,359 shares of the company's stock worth $1,029,315,000 after acquiring an additional 161,928 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of SouthState Bank by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,729,496 shares of the company's stock worth $445,101,000 after purchasing an additional 62,879 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of SouthState Bank by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,866,033 shares of the company's stock worth $175,653,000 after purchasing an additional 85,981 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in SouthState Bank by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,623,728 shares of the company's stock valued at $152,809,000 after buying an additional 15,787 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in SouthState Bank by 35.6% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,591,034 shares of the company's stock valued at $157,306,000 after buying an additional 418,031 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.76% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other SouthState Bank news, Director David R. Brooks sold 14,300 shares of SouthState Bank stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.39, for a total transaction of $1,406,977.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 12,700 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,249,553. The trade was a 52.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 1.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on SSB. Weiss Ratings lowered SouthState Bank from a "buy (b)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. DA Davidson reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $125.00 price target on shares of SouthState Bank in a research note on Wednesday, June 10th. Barclays reduced their price objective on SouthState Bank from $126.00 to $123.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of SouthState Bank from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. Finally, TD Cowen dropped their target price on shares of SouthState Bank from $117.00 to $114.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, SouthState Bank has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $118.62.

SouthState Bank Price Performance

SSB stock opened at $98.75 on Monday. SouthState Bank Corporation has a 1 year low of $84.47 and a 1 year high of $108.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.65 billion, a PE ratio of 10.65 and a beta of 0.70. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $95.81 and a 200-day simple moving average of $96.47.

SouthState Bank (NYSE:SSB - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 23rd. The company reported $2.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.21 by $0.07. SouthState Bank had a return on equity of 10.81% and a net margin of 24.75%.The company had revenue of $661.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $669.29 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.87 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that SouthState Bank Corporation will post 9.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SouthState Bank Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Investors of record on Friday, May 8th were given a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 8th. SouthState Bank's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.89%.

SouthState Bank Profile

SouthState Bank NYSE: SSB is a bank holding company headquartered in Winter Haven, Florida, that provides a range of commercial and retail banking services. Through its subsidiary, SouthState Bank, the company serves businesses, institutions and individuals with deposit, lending and treasury management solutions. Its core business lines include commercial and industrial loans, commercial real estate lending, consumer mortgages and home equity loans.

In addition to traditional lending and deposit products, SouthState Bank offers specialized services such as treasury and cash management, merchant services, payment solutions and online banking.

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