SouthState Co. (NASDAQ:SSB – Get Rating) was the target of a significant decrease in short interest in the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,860,000 shares, a decrease of 24.4% from the February 28th total of 2,460,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 401,100 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.6 days.
In other news, insider Greg A. Lapointe sold 1,454 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.91, for a total transaction of $129,275.14. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Greg A. Lapointe sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.60, for a total transaction of $25,680.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 4,335 shares of company stock worth $375,706. Corporate insiders own 1.88% of the company’s stock.
Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in shares of SouthState by 136.0% in the 2nd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 230,801 shares of the bank’s stock worth $18,871,000 after acquiring an additional 133,023 shares during the last quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of SouthState in the 3rd quarter worth about $527,000. Donald L. Hagan LLC lifted its holdings in shares of SouthState by 30.2% in the 3rd quarter. Donald L. Hagan LLC now owns 19,181 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,432,000 after acquiring an additional 4,447 shares during the last quarter. Strs Ohio lifted its holdings in shares of SouthState by 24.6% in the 3rd quarter. Strs Ohio now owns 120,200 shares of the bank’s stock worth $8,975,000 after acquiring an additional 23,700 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Spire Wealth Management lifted its holdings in shares of SouthState by 18.1% in the 3rd quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 2,124 shares of the bank’s stock worth $159,000 after acquiring an additional 326 shares during the last quarter. 84.30% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
SSB opened at $85.33 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.86 billion, a PE ratio of 12.72 and a beta of 0.85. The company’s fifty day moving average is $85.77. SouthState has a fifty-two week low of $62.60 and a fifty-two week high of $93.34. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08.
SouthState (NASDAQ:SSB – Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Monday, January 24th. The bank reported $1.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $1.52 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $350.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $341.91 million. SouthState had a net margin of 33.04% and a return on equity of 11.27%. SouthState’s quarterly revenue was down 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.44 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that SouthState will post 5.69 earnings per share for the current year.
The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 11th were paid a $0.49 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 10th. This represents a $1.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.30%. SouthState’s payout ratio is currently 29.21%.
A number of research analysts recently weighed in on SSB shares. Raymond James increased their price objective on shares of SouthState from $90.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 25th. Stephens increased their price objective on shares of SouthState from $76.00 to $84.50 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 26th. Finally, Zacks Investment Research downgraded shares of SouthState from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 28th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, SouthState presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $85.34.
SouthState Company 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 accepts checking accounts, savings deposits, interest-bearing transaction accounts, certificates of deposits, money market accounts, and other time deposits.
