SouthState (NASDAQ:SSB) Upgraded by Stephens to “Overweight” Rating

SouthState (NASDAQ:SSB) was upgraded by investment analysts at Stephens from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a report issued on Monday, MarketBeat reports.

A number of other research analysts have also commented on the company. Citigroup initiated coverage on SouthState in a report on Thursday, October 10th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $102.00 price target for the company. Hovde Group cut shares of SouthState from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $120.00 price target (up from $115.00) on shares of SouthState in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of SouthState from $110.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Truist Financial reduced their target price on shares of SouthState from $111.00 to $103.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $105.11.

SouthState Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:SSB traded down $0.32 on Monday, reaching $110.61. 112,202 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 490,169. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.44 billion, a PE ratio of 17.19 and a beta of 0.69. The company’s 50 day moving average is $102.84 and its 200-day moving average is $92.13. SouthState has a fifty-two week low of $70.68 and a fifty-two week high of $114.26.

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

Insider Transactions at SouthState

In other news, CFO William E. V. Matthews sold 5,000 shares of the company’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 directly owns 36,964 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,696,400. This represents a 11.91 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Daniel E. Bockhorst sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.00, for a total transaction of $250,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 33,328 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,332,800. This trade represents a 6.98 % 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.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On SouthState

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in SouthState by 12.6% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,328,984 shares of the bank’s stock worth $254,394,000 after purchasing an additional 371,987 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of SouthState by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,802,373 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $214,157,000 after buying an additional 45,176 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of SouthState by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,820,303 shares of the bank’s stock worth $176,931,000 after acquiring an additional 31,340 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in SouthState by 2.4% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,685,828 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $128,831,000 after acquiring an additional 39,492 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Earnest Partners LLC raised its position in SouthState by 2.8% during the second quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 1,494,332 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $114,197,000 after purchasing an additional 40,879 shares in 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.