Insider Selling: SouthState Co. (NASDAQ:SSB) CFO Sells 6,531 Shares of Stock

SouthState Co. (NASDAQ:SSB) CFO William E. V. Matthews sold 6,531 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 34,107 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,693,447.03. This represents a 16.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

SouthState Stock Down 1.5 %

Shares of SSB stock opened at $106.68 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $103.43 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $98.90. SouthState Co. has a 52 week low of $70.68 and a 52 week high of $114.26. The stock has a market cap of $8.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.46 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10.

SouthState Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th will be given a $0.54 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 7th. This represents a $2.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.02%. SouthState’s dividend payout ratio is currently 33.33%.

Institutional Trading of SouthState

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Marshall Wace LLP bought a new position in shares of SouthState during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $527,000. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in SouthState by 214.5% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 36,711 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,769,000 after purchasing an additional 25,037 shares in the last quarter. Algert Global LLC bought a new position in SouthState during the second quarter valued at $587,000. Creative Planning increased its holdings in shares of SouthState by 18.3% in the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 14,365 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,098,000 after buying an additional 2,225 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dana Investment Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of SouthState by 14.6% during the 2nd quarter. Dana Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 19,869 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,518,000 after buying an additional 2,533 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SSB has been the topic of several recent research reports. Citigroup raised SouthState from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $106.00 to $128.00 in a research note on Monday. UBS Group started coverage on shares of SouthState in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $132.00 target price on the stock. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on shares of SouthState from $111.00 to $103.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Hovde Group cut shares of SouthState from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $130.00 price target on shares of SouthState in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $115.44.

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.