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

SouthState Co. (NASDAQ:SSB) shares gapped up prior to trading 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.06%. SouthState’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.33%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have commented on SSB shares. Citigroup started coverage on shares of SouthState in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $102.00 target price on the stock. UBS Group started coverage on shares of SouthState in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $132.00 price target on the stock. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $130.00 price objective on shares of SouthState in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of SouthState from $110.00 to $112.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Hovde Group cut shares of SouthState from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, SouthState has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $112.56.

SouthState Price Performance

The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $103.53 and its 200-day simple moving average is $98.01. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The firm has a market cap of $8.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.10 and a beta of 0.70.

SouthState (NASDAQ:SSB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The bank reported $1.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.64 by $0.26. The business had revenue of $426.41 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $429.47 million. SouthState had a return on equity of 9.41% and a net margin of 21.24%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.62 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that SouthState Co. will post 6.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of SouthState

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of SSB. Caprock Group LLC boosted its position in shares of SouthState by 5.8% during the 4th quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 2,567 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $255,000 after acquiring an additional 140 shares during the last quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in SouthState in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $233,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position in SouthState by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 11,371 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,131,000 after purchasing an additional 207 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV grew its stake in SouthState by 35.3% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,106 shares of the bank’s stock worth $309,000 after buying an additional 810 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in shares of SouthState by 16.8% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,161 shares of the bank’s stock worth $113,000 after buying an additional 167 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

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.