First Trust Advisors LP Has $7.16 Million Position in SouthState Co. (NASDAQ:SSB)

Posted by on May 26th, 2023

First Trust Advisors LP lifted its stake in SouthState Co. (NASDAQ:SSB – Get Rating) by 44.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 93,727 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 28,800 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP owned 0.12% of SouthState worth $7,157,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of SSB. Raymond James & Associates increased its holdings in shares of SouthState by 69.1% in the first quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 19,456 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,587,000 after purchasing an additional 7,949 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in SouthState by 51.4% during the 1st quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 22,450 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,832,000 after acquiring an additional 7,622 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC grew its holdings in SouthState by 119.0% during the 1st quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 8,239 shares of the bank’s stock worth $673,000 after acquiring an additional 4,477 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc. grew its holdings in SouthState by 29.1% during the 1st quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 26,907 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,194,000 after acquiring an additional 6,065 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can acquired a new stake in SouthState during the 1st quarter worth $204,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.28% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on SSB. Raymond James lowered their target price on shares of SouthState from $95.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 6th. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of SouthState in a research report on Thursday, May 18th. They set a “sell” rating on the stock. Truist Financial reduced their price target on shares of SouthState from $91.00 to $82.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 23rd. UBS Group started coverage on shares of SouthState in a research report on Wednesday, March 15th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $79.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on shares of SouthState from $100.00 to $90.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, SouthState currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $86.40.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other SouthState news, insider Douglas Lloyd Williams sold 23,400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.01, for a total transaction of $1,989,234.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 15,760 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,339,757.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other SouthState news, insider Douglas Lloyd Williams sold 23,400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.01, for a total transaction of $1,989,234.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 15,760 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,339,757.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director G Ruffner Page, Jr. acquired 14,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 10th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $71.75 per share, for a total transaction of $1,004,500.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 72,963 shares in the company, valued at $5,235,095.25. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 1.26% of the company’s stock.

SouthState Trading Down 0.9 %

SSB opened at $64.02 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.11 and a beta of 0.79. SouthState Co. has a 12 month low of $59.51 and a 12 month high of $91.74. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $67.60 and its 200 day simple moving average is $76.01. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22.

SouthState (NASDAQ:SSB – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 28th. The bank reported $1.93 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.98 by ($0.05). The company had revenue of $521.76 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $442.20 million. SouthState had a net margin of 28.57% and a return on equity of 11.02%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.69 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that SouthState Co. will post 7.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

SouthState Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 12th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 11th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.12%. SouthState’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.45%.

SouthState Profile

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South State Corp. is a bank and financial holding company, which engages in the provision of banking services and products to customers through its subsidiary. Its services include demand, time, and savings deposits, lending and credit card servicing, ATM processing, mortgage banking services, correspondent banking services and wealth management, and trust services.

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Institutional Ownership by Quarter for SouthState (NASDAQ:SSB)

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