Vest Financial LLC Purchases 8,850 Shares of SouthState Bank Corporation $SSB

Key Points

• Vest Financial LLC increased its holdings in SouthState Bank by 25.7%, acquiring an additional 8,850 shares in the second quarter, bringing their total to 43,313 shares valued at approximately $3,986,000.
• Multiple institutional investors have also raised their stakes in SouthState Bank, with Alliancebernstein L.P. increasing its position by 44.5% during the first quarter.
• SouthState Bank recently announced a quarterly dividend increase from $0.54 to $0.60 per share, reflecting a dividend yield of 2.5% and a payout ratio of 35.77%.

Vest Financial LLC boosted its position in shares of SouthState Bank Corporation (NYSE:SSB - Free Report) by 25.7% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 43,313 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 8,850 shares during the quarter. Vest Financial LLC's holdings in SouthState Bank were worth $3,986,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on SSB. Hovde Group boosted their price objective on shares of SouthState Bank from $97.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Weiss Ratings reissued a "buy (b-)" rating on shares of SouthState Bank in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. TD Cowen began coverage on shares of SouthState Bank in a research report on Thursday, September 25th. They set a "buy" rating and a $127.00 price objective on the stock. National Bankshares set a $127.00 price objective on shares of SouthState Bank in a research report on Wednesday, September 24th. Finally, Cowen began coverage on shares of SouthState Bank in a research report on Wednesday, September 24th. They set a "buy" rating on the stock. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $117.08.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Daniel E. Bockhorst sold 5,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at $3,165,786. The trade was a 13.59% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director G Stacy Smith purchased 2,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 1st. The stock was purchased at an average price of $92.30 per share, for a total transaction of $230,750.00. Following the purchase, the director owned 39,546 shares in the company, valued at $3,650,095.80. This represents a 6.75% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have bought a total of 8,338 shares of company stock worth $786,321 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 1.70% of the company's stock.

SouthState Bank Trading Up 2.5%

Shares of SSB stock opened at $96.24 on Tuesday. SouthState Bank Corporation has a 12 month low of $77.74 and a 12 month high of $114.26. The company has a market cap of $9.74 billion, a PE ratio of 14.34 and a beta of 0.68. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $99.07.

SouthState Bank (NYSE:SSB - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The company reported $2.30 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.00 by $0.30. SouthState Bank had a net margin of 19.27% and a return on equity of 10.23%. The firm had revenue of $664.77 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $639.47 million.

SouthState Bank 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 issued a dividend of $0.60 per share. This is a boost from SouthState Bank'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 2.5%. SouthState Bank's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.77%.

SouthState Bank 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 accepts checking accounts, savings deposits, interest-bearing transaction accounts, certificates of deposits, money market accounts, and other time deposits.

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