SouthState (NASDAQ:SSB) Shares Gap Up Following Dividend Announcement

SouthState Co. (NASDAQ:SSB) gapped up before the market opened on Friday following a dividend announcement from the company. The stock had previously closed at $98.59, but opened at $103.50. SouthState shares last traded at $105.12, with a volume of 139,257 shares changing hands.

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.54 per share. This represents a $2.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 7th. SouthState’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.33%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on SSB. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $120.00 target price (up previously from $115.00) on shares of SouthState in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Citigroup assumed coverage on shares of SouthState in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $102.00 price objective for the company. Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $130.00 price target on shares of SouthState in a research report on Friday. Hovde Group lowered shares of SouthState from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of SouthState from $110.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $112.56.

SouthState Stock Performance

The business’s fifty day moving average price is $103.32 and its 200-day moving average price is $98.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.92. The stock has a market cap of $7.88 billion, a PE ratio of 15.94 and a beta of 0.70.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.64 by $0.26. The firm had revenue of $426.41 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $429.47 million. SouthState had a net margin of 21.24% and a return on equity of 9.41%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.62 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that SouthState Co. will post 6.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of SouthState

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SSB. Waldron Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in SouthState during the third quarter valued at $35,000. UMB Bank n.a. grew its holdings in SouthState by 53.9% during the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 548 shares of the bank’s stock worth $53,000 after acquiring an additional 192 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in shares of SouthState by 16.8% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,161 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $113,000 after buying an additional 167 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of SouthState during the second quarter valued at about $97,000. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of SouthState by 9,620.0% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,458 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $142,000 after purchasing an additional 1,443 shares during the last quarter. 89.76% of the stock is currently owned by 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.