Select Equity Group L.P. Trims Position in SouthState Co. (NASDAQ:SSB)

Select Equity Group L.P. lowered its stake in shares of SouthState Co. (NASDAQ:SSB) by 67.1% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 155,579 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 316,622 shares during the quarter. Select Equity Group L.P.’s holdings in SouthState were worth $11,889,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SSB. SageView Advisory Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of SouthState in the 1st quarter worth $879,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its position in SouthState by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 720,801 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $60,872,000 after purchasing an additional 13,905 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its holdings in SouthState by 82.5% in the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 42,345 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $3,601,000 after purchasing an additional 19,138 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in SouthState by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,448,323 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $713,461,000 after purchasing an additional 54,147 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in SouthState during the 1st quarter worth approximately $2,754,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SSB has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on SouthState from $95.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. DA Davidson raised their target price on SouthState from $102.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Stephens upped their price target on shares of SouthState from $88.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Hovde Group raised their price objective on shares of SouthState from $97.00 to $112.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of SouthState from $109.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $103.00.

SouthState Stock Performance

NASDAQ:SSB opened at $95.52 on Friday. SouthState Co. has a twelve month low of $63.36 and a twelve month high of $102.82. The company has a market capitalization of $7.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.58 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $94.05 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $84.00.

SouthState (NASDAQ:SSB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The bank reported $1.79 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.25. SouthState had a net margin of 20.84% and a return on equity of 9.31%. The business had revenue of $425.48 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $418.08 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.63 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that SouthState Co. will post 6.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SouthState Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 9th were issued a $0.54 dividend. This represents a $2.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.26%. This is a positive change from SouthState’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 9th. SouthState’s dividend payout ratio is 35.24%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other SouthState news, CFO William E. V. Matthews sold 5,000 shares of SouthState stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.00, for a total value of $500,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 36,964 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,696,400. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other SouthState news, CFO William E. V. Matthews sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.00, for a total value of $500,000.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 36,964 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,696,400. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Daniel E. Bockhorst sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.00, for a total transaction of $250,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 33,328 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,332,800. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.26% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

SouthState 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.