Citigroup Inc. Boosts Stake in SouthState Co. (NASDAQ:SSB)

Citigroup Inc. raised its stake in shares of SouthState Co. (NASDAQ:SSB) by 4.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 213,175 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 9,693 shares during the quarter. Citigroup Inc. owned about 0.28% of SouthState worth $20,716,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of SSB. Waldron Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of SouthState in the third quarter valued at approximately $35,000. UMB Bank n.a. grew its stake 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 acquiring an additional 192 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in SouthState by 120.7% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 609 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 333 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new position in SouthState in the 2nd quarter valued at $97,000. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of SouthState by 9,620.0% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,458 shares of the bank’s stock worth $142,000 after purchasing an additional 1,443 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $120.00 price objective (up previously from $115.00) on shares of SouthState in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Citigroup assumed coverage on SouthState in a report on Thursday, October 10th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $102.00 price target for the company. Stephens increased their price objective on shares of SouthState from $101.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of SouthState from $110.00 to $112.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Hovde Group downgraded shares of SouthState from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $105.11.

SouthState Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of SSB stock opened at $111.18 on Wednesday. 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 Co. has a fifty-two week low of $70.68 and a fifty-two week high of $114.26. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $100.53 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $90.20. The stock has a market cap of $8.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.16 and a beta of 0.66.

SouthState (NASDAQ:SSB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The bank reported $1.90 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.64 by $0.26. SouthState had a net margin of 21.24% and a return on equity of 9.41%. The firm had revenue of $426.41 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $429.47 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.62 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that SouthState Co. will post 6.94 EPS for the current year.

SouthState Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 8th were paid a $0.54 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $2.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.94%. SouthState’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 33.33%.

Insider Activity at SouthState

In other SouthState news, insider Daniel E. Bockhorst sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 18th. The shares were 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 directly owns 33,328 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,332,800. This represents a 6.98 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO William E. V. Matthews sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.00, for a total value of $500,000.00. Following 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. Company insiders own 1.70% of the company’s stock.

SouthState Profile

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.