Insider Selling: SouthState Co. (NASDAQ:SSB) Insider Sells 2,500 Shares of Stock

SouthState Co. (NASDAQ:SSB) insider Daniel E. Bockhorst sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.00, for a total transaction of $250,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 33,328 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,332,800. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

SouthState Stock Performance

Shares of SSB stock opened at $98.78 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.91. The firm has a market cap of $7.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.11 and a beta of 0.67. SouthState Co. has a 52 week low of $63.36 and a 52 week high of $102.82. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $93.43 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $83.65.

SouthState (NASDAQ:SSB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The bank reported $1.79 EPS 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 company had revenue of $425.48 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $418.08 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.63 EPS. SouthState’s revenue was down 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that SouthState Co. will post 6.7 earnings per share for the current year.

SouthState Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 16th. Investors of record on Friday, August 9th were issued a $0.54 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 9th. This represents a $2.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.19%. This is a positive change from SouthState’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. SouthState’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.24%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on SSB shares. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on SouthState from $95.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 29th. DA Davidson raised their price objective on SouthState from $102.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Hovde Group upped their target price on shares of SouthState from $97.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of SouthState from $95.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Finally, Stephens upped their price objective on shares of SouthState from $88.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. One equities research 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 currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $103.00.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On SouthState

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SSB. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of SouthState by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,448,323 shares of the bank’s stock worth $713,461,000 after purchasing an additional 54,147 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in SouthState by 12.6% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,328,984 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $254,394,000 after buying an additional 371,987 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in SouthState by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,802,373 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $214,157,000 after acquiring an additional 45,176 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in shares of SouthState by 26.8% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,208,224 shares of the bank’s stock worth $186,485,000 after acquiring an additional 466,144 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of SouthState by 2.4% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,685,828 shares of the bank’s stock worth $128,831,000 after acquiring an additional 39,492 shares during the period. 89.76% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.