Prospector Partners LLC Has $18.51 Million Holdings in SouthState Co. (NASDAQ:SSB)

Prospector Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of SouthState Co. (NASDAQ:SSB) by 0.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 186,058 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 808 shares during the period. SouthState accounts for 2.1% of Prospector Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th biggest holding. Prospector Partners LLC owned approximately 0.24% of SouthState worth $18,509,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of SSB. Summit Securities Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of SouthState in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Quadrant Capital Group LLC boosted its holdings in SouthState by 24.2% in the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 508 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $51,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in SouthState in the 4th quarter worth $102,000. Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in shares of SouthState by 16.8% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,161 shares of the bank’s stock worth $113,000 after purchasing an additional 167 shares during the period. Finally, Stonebridge Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of SouthState during the fourth quarter valued at about $137,000. 89.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other SouthState news, CFO William E. V. Matthews sold 6,531 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $108.29, for a total value of $707,241.99. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 34,107 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,693,447.03. This trade represents a 16.07 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Sara Arana sold 1,991 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.78, for a total value of $200,652.98. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,787 shares in the company, valued at $482,433.86. This trade represents a 29.37 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on SSB. Citigroup upgraded SouthState from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $106.00 to $128.00 in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Raymond James upgraded SouthState from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and cut their target price for the company from $120.00 to $115.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Barclays initiated coverage on shares of SouthState in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. They set an “overweight” rating and a $120.00 price target on the stock. 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. Finally, Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $130.00 price objective on shares of SouthState in a report on Friday, March 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $118.40.

SouthState Stock Down 3.7 %

Shares of SSB opened at $81.47 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $8.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.70 and a beta of 0.65. SouthState Co. has a one year low of $70.68 and a one year high of $114.27. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $97.93 and its 200-day simple moving average is $100.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.91.

SouthState Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors 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 2.65%. SouthState’s dividend payout ratio is 31.03%.

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.