SouthState Co. (NASDAQ:SSB) Shares Sold by Raymond James & Associates

Raymond James & Associates reduced its stake in shares of SouthState Co. (NASDAQ:SSB) by 14.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 19,677 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 3,284 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates’ holdings in SouthState were worth $1,662,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SSB. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. grew its position in SouthState by 51.4% during the 1st quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 22,450 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,832,000 after purchasing an additional 7,622 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of SouthState by 119.0% during the 1st quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 8,239 shares of the bank’s stock worth $673,000 after acquiring an additional 4,477 shares in the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. boosted its stake in shares of SouthState by 29.1% during the 1st quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 26,907 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,194,000 after acquiring an additional 6,065 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can purchased a new stake in shares of SouthState during the 1st quarter worth about $204,000. Finally, MetLife Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of SouthState by 70.9% during the 1st quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 40,780 shares of the bank’s stock worth $3,327,000 after acquiring an additional 16,918 shares in the last quarter. 89.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently issued reports on SSB. Truist Financial lowered their target price on shares of SouthState from $90.00 to $89.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 1st. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of SouthState from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Raymond James lowered shares of SouthState from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 5th. Finally, DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $102.00 price target (up from $96.00) on shares of SouthState in a research note on Monday, January 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $87.80.

SouthState Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of SouthState stock opened at $76.61 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.84 billion, a PE ratio of 11.86 and a beta of 0.74. SouthState Co. has a twelve month low of $59.51 and a twelve month high of $87.77. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $81.86 and its 200 day moving average price is $78.36. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06.

SouthState (NASDAQ:SSB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The bank reported $1.67 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $419.72 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $419.08 million. SouthState had a net margin of 22.15% and a return on equity of 9.85%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that SouthState Co. will post 6.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

SouthState Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 9th were paid a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 8th. SouthState’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 32.20%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other SouthState news, COO Renee R. Brooks sold 4,025 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.62, for a total value of $344,620.50. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 31,747 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,718,178.14. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, COO Renee R. Brooks sold 4,025 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.62, for a total transaction of $344,620.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 31,747 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,718,178.14. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, President Richard Iv Murray sold 4,900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.85, for a total transaction of $401,065.00. Following the sale, the president now owns 58,968 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,826,530.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 11,925 shares of company stock valued at $988,686 in the last ninety days. 1.26% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.