SouthState Co. (NASDAQ:SSB) Receives $115.44 Average PT from Brokerages

Shares of SouthState Co. (NASDAQ:SSB) have been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the nine analysts that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and seven have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $115.44.

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on SSB. Citigroup raised shares of SouthState from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $106.00 to $128.00 in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $130.00 price target on shares of SouthState in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Finally, UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of SouthState in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $132.00 price objective for the company.

SouthState Price Performance

NASDAQ SSB opened at $91.57 on Thursday. SouthState has a 1 year low of $70.68 and a 1 year high of $114.27. 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 company has a market cap of $9.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.16 and a beta of 0.68. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $99.68 and its 200 day moving average price is $100.67.

SouthState Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th were issued a dividend of $0.54 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $2.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.36%. SouthState’s dividend payout ratio is currently 31.03%.

Insider Transactions at SouthState

In other news, Director G Stacy Smith purchased 3,100 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $93.60 per share, for a total transaction of $290,160.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 36,779 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,442,514.40. This represents a 9.20 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 34,107 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,693,447.03. The trade was a 16.07 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.26% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of SouthState

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SSB. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. raised its position in SouthState by 2,221.8% in the fourth quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 727,341 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $72,356,000 after purchasing an additional 696,014 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in SouthState in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $67,260,000. Capital Research Global Investors purchased a new stake in SouthState in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $60,311,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new stake in SouthState in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $21,498,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of SouthState by 51.4% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 618,913 shares of the bank’s stock worth $61,569,000 after acquiring an additional 210,019 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

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.