Bailard Inc. Takes Position in SouthState Co. (NASDAQ:SSB)

Bailard Inc. bought a new position in shares of SouthState Co. (NASDAQ:SSB) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 4,355 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $368,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of SSB. Covestor Ltd raised its stake in shares of SouthState by 50.5% in the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 638 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 214 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in SouthState by 8,346.7% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,267 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $107,000 after acquiring an additional 1,252 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its position in SouthState by 216.5% during the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,880 shares of the bank’s stock worth $127,000 after acquiring an additional 1,286 shares during the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of SouthState by 10.0% in the fourth quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,250 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $190,000 after purchasing an additional 205 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Abacus Planning Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of SouthState in the fourth quarter worth $203,000. 89.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on SSB shares. Truist Financial decreased their price target on SouthState from $90.00 to $89.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Raymond James lowered shares of SouthState from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 5th. DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and set a $102.00 price objective (up from $96.00) on shares of SouthState in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on shares of SouthState from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $87.80.

SouthState Trading Down 1.3 %

SSB stock opened at $77.95 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $5.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.99 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $81.40 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $79.03. SouthState Co. has a one year low of $59.51 and a one year high of $87.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.89.

SouthState (NASDAQ:SSB) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The bank reported $1.58 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.55 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $415.49 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $414.32 million. SouthState had a net margin of 20.91% and a return on equity of 9.24%. SouthState’s revenue was down 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.93 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that SouthState Co. will post 6.48 EPS for the current year.

SouthState Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 10th will be given a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.67%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 9th. SouthState’s payout ratio is 33.93%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Daniel E. Bockhorst sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.00, for a total transaction of $243,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 35,828 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,902,068. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, President Richard Iv Murray sold 4,900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.85, for a total value of $401,065.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now owns 58,968 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,826,530.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Daniel E. Bockhorst sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.00, for a total transaction of $243,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 35,828 shares in the company, valued at $2,902,068. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.70% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.