The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Buys 34,194 Shares of SouthState Co. (NASDAQ:SSB)

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its position in SouthState Co. (NASDAQ:SSB) by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 731,802 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 34,194 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company owned about 0.96% of SouthState worth $71,117,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in SSB. Waldron Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in SouthState in the 3rd quarter worth $35,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in SouthState by 120.7% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 609 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 333 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its holdings in SouthState by 53.9% in the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 548 shares of the bank’s stock worth $53,000 after buying an additional 192 shares during the period. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of SouthState during the second quarter valued at approximately $97,000. Finally, Innealta Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of SouthState during the second quarter valued at approximately $133,000. 89.76% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $120.00 price target (up previously from $115.00) on shares of SouthState in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Hovde Group downgraded shares of SouthState from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Truist Financial cut their price objective on SouthState from $111.00 to $103.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Citigroup initiated coverage on SouthState in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $102.00 target price for the company. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price target on SouthState from $110.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $105.11.

Insider Activity at SouthState

In other SouthState news, insider Daniel E. Bockhorst sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.00, for a total value of $250,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 33,328 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,332,800. The trade was a 6.98 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO William E. V. Matthews sold 5,000 shares of SouthState stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.00, for a total transaction of $500,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 36,964 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,696,400. This represents a 11.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

SouthState Trading Up 0.2 %

SouthState stock opened at $111.25 on Thursday. SouthState Co. has a 12 month low of $70.68 and a 12 month high of $114.26. The company has a market capitalization of $8.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.21 and a beta of 0.66. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $100.78 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $90.41. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10.

SouthState (NASDAQ:SSB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The bank reported $1.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.64 by $0.26. The company had revenue of $426.41 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $429.47 million. SouthState had a net margin of 21.24% and a return on equity of 9.41%. SouthState’s revenue was down .4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.62 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that SouthState Co. will post 6.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SouthState Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Friday, November 8th were issued a $0.54 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $2.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.94%. SouthState’s payout ratio is currently 33.33%.

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.