FourThought Financial Partners LLC Acquires New Stake in SouthState Co. (NASDAQ:SSB)

FourThought Financial Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of SouthState Co. (NASDAQ:SSB) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 2,904 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $289,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in SSB. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in SouthState by 1.8% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,820,303 shares of the bank’s stock worth $176,931,000 after purchasing an additional 31,340 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in SouthState by 7.9% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 987,849 shares of the bank’s stock worth $95,999,000 after purchasing an additional 72,181 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in shares of SouthState by 4.7% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 842,498 shares of the bank’s stock worth $83,812,000 after buying an additional 37,796 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its holdings in shares of SouthState by 4.9% in the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 731,802 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $71,117,000 after buying an additional 34,194 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of SouthState by 3.7% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 711,853 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $69,178,000 after buying an additional 25,495 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have issued reports on SSB shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $120.00 price objective (up previously from $115.00) on shares of SouthState in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of SouthState in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $132.00 price objective for the company. Hovde Group downgraded shares of SouthState from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $130.00 target price on shares of SouthState in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Citigroup raised SouthState from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $106.00 to $128.00 in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $115.44.

SouthState Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of SSB opened at $99.40 on Thursday. SouthState Co. has a 1-year low of $70.68 and a 1-year high of $114.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $101.11 and a 200-day simple moving average of $100.46. The stock has a market cap of $7.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.28 and a beta of 0.70.

SouthState Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th were issued a $0.54 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $2.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.17%. SouthState’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 31.03%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO William E. V. Matthews sold 6,531 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $108.29, for a total value of $707,241.99. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 34,107 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,693,447.03. The trade was a 16.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.26% of the company’s stock.

SouthState 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 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.