Earnest Partners LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in SouthState Co. (NASDAQ:SSB)

Earnest Partners LLC trimmed its position in shares of SouthState Co. (NASDAQ:SSB) by 0.6% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 1,439,425 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 9,104 shares during the quarter. Earnest Partners LLC’s holdings in SouthState were worth $143,194,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Summit Securities Group LLC purchased a new stake in SouthState in the 4th quarter worth approximately $38,000. Aquatic Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of SouthState during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Quadrant Capital Group LLC lifted its stake in SouthState by 24.2% in the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 508 shares of the bank’s stock worth $51,000 after acquiring an additional 99 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new stake in SouthState in the fourth quarter valued at $102,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in SouthState by 16.8% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,161 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $113,000 after purchasing an additional 167 shares during the period. 89.76% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO William E. V. Matthews sold 6,531 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $108.29, for a total transaction of $707,241.99. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 34,107 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,693,447.03. This trade represents a 16.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Sara Arana sold 1,991 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.78, for a total value of $200,652.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,787 shares in the company, valued at $482,433.86. This trade represents a 29.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.70% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Raymond James raised shares of SouthState from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $120.00 to $115.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Barclays cut their price objective on SouthState from $120.00 to $115.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Citigroup upgraded SouthState from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $106.00 to $128.00 in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $130.00 target price on shares of SouthState in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, SouthState presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $117.90.

SouthState Stock Performance

Shares of SSB opened at $87.25 on Friday. SouthState Co. has a 52 week low of $70.68 and a 52 week high of $114.27. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The stock has a market cap of $8.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.54 and a beta of 0.65. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $90.93 and its 200-day moving average price is $98.87.

SouthState Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 9th will be paid a $0.54 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 9th. This represents a $2.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.48%. SouthState’s dividend payout ratio is currently 34.12%.

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 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.