SouthState Co. (NASDAQ:SSB) Director Acquires $324,820.78 in Stock

Key Points

• Janet P. Froetscher, a director at SouthState Co. (NASDAQ:SSB), purchased 3,338 shares at an average price of $97.31, increasing her total ownership by 67.35%.
• SouthState recently reported earnings of $2.30 per share for the last quarter, exceeding expectations and showing significant revenue growth of $840.50 million.
• The company announced an increase in its quarterly dividend to $0.60, yielding 2.50%, which will be paid to investors of record on August 8th.

SouthState Co. (NASDAQ:SSB - Get Free Report) Director Janet P. Froetscher bought 3,338 shares of SouthState stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 30th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $97.31 per share, with a total value of $324,820.78. Following the transaction, the director owned 8,294 shares of the company's stock, valued at $807,089.14. This trade represents a 67.35% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

SouthState Trading Down 1.6%

Shares of SouthState stock traded down $1.50 on Friday, reaching $92.67. 1,113,382 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 949,530. The company has a market capitalization of $9.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.31 and a beta of 0.77. SouthState Co. has a 52 week low of $77.74 and a 52 week high of $114.26. The firm's 50-day moving average is $92.39 and its two-hundred day moving average is $93.37. 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 announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The bank reported $2.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.98 by $0.32. SouthState had a return on equity of 9.62% and a net margin of 22.38%. The firm had revenue of $840.50 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $645.12 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.74 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that SouthState Co. will post 8.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

SouthState Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Friday, August 8th will be paid a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 8th. This is a positive change from SouthState's previous quarterly dividend of $0.54. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.6%. SouthState's payout ratio is currently 35.77%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On SouthState

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of SouthState by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 9,537 shares of the bank's stock valued at $949,000 after purchasing an additional 112 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of SouthState by 51.4% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 618,913 shares of the bank's stock worth $61,569,000 after buying an additional 210,019 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of SouthState in the fourth quarter worth about $67,260,000. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA grew its position in shares of SouthState by 13.9% during the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 11,759 shares of the bank's stock worth $1,170,000 after purchasing an additional 1,431 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC grew its position in shares of SouthState by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 46,709 shares of the bank's stock worth $4,491,000 after purchasing an additional 987 shares in the last quarter. 89.76% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on SSB. Hovde Group upped their price objective on shares of SouthState from $97.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. DA Davidson increased their target price on shares of SouthState from $115.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, July 28th. Raymond James Financial set a $110.00 target price on shares of SouthState in a report on Monday, April 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on shares of SouthState from $130.00 to $120.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, Stephens reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $119.00 target price on shares of SouthState in a report on Monday, April 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $115.27.

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.