Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC Makes New Investment in Southside Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:SBSI)

Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Southside Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:SBSI) in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm bought 8,531 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $276,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SBSI. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Southside Bancshares by 95.8% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 238,087 shares of the bank’s stock worth $6,574,000 after purchasing an additional 116,473 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP bought a new position in shares of Southside Bancshares in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,109,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its position in shares of Southside Bancshares by 6.8% in the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 603,285 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $16,657,000 after acquiring an additional 38,500 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its position in shares of Southside Bancshares by 73.6% in the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 59,801 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,999,000 after acquiring an additional 25,350 shares during the period. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Southside Bancshares by 179.3% in the third quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 35,341 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,181,000 after acquiring an additional 22,687 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 55.70% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, StockNews.com lowered shares of Southside Bancshares from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southside Bancshares

In other Southside Bancshares news, CEO Lee R. Gibson sold 3,300 shares of Southside Bancshares stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.74, for a total transaction of $121,242.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 57,272 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,104,173.28. This trade represents a 5.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Suni M. Davis sold 2,220 shares of Southside Bancshares stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.00, for a total transaction of $79,920.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 9,202 shares in the company, valued at $331,272. This trade represents a 19.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 5.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Southside Bancshares Price Performance

SBSI stock opened at $35.16 on Friday. Southside Bancshares, Inc. has a 12 month low of $25.30 and a 12 month high of $38.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.69 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a current ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $34.42 and a 200-day moving average of $31.89.

Southside Bancshares (NASDAQ:SBSI) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The bank reported $0.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.73 by ($0.05). Southside Bancshares had a net margin of 18.94% and a return on equity of 10.64%. The company had revenue of $113.87 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $68.25 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.60 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Southside Bancshares, Inc. will post 2.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southside Bancshares Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 6th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st were given a dividend of $0.36 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.10%. Southside Bancshares’s payout ratio is presently 51.99%.

Southside Bancshares Profile

Southside Bancshares, Inc operates as the bank holding company for Southside Bank that provides a range of financial services to individuals, businesses, municipal entities, and nonprofit organizations. Its deposit products include savings, money market, and interest and noninterest bearing checking accounts, as well as certificates of deposits.