T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. Buys 11,728 Shares of SouthState Co. $SSB

T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of SouthState Co. (NASDAQ:SSB) by 0.3% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 3,479,298 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 11,728 shares during the quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in SouthState were worth $322,949,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of SSB. IFP Advisors Inc lifted its stake in shares of SouthState by 14.2% in the first quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 943 shares of the bank’s stock worth $87,000 after buying an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of SouthState by 5.2% in the first quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,368 shares of the bank’s stock worth $220,000 after buying an additional 118 shares in the last quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of SouthState by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,547 shares of the bank’s stock worth $253,000 after buying an additional 153 shares in the last quarter. FourThought Financial Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of SouthState by 5.7% in the first quarter. FourThought Financial Partners LLC now owns 3,070 shares of the bank’s stock worth $285,000 after buying an additional 166 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Liberty One Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of SouthState by 2.3% in the first quarter. Liberty One Investment Management LLC now owns 8,222 shares of the bank’s stock worth $763,000 after buying an additional 186 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

SouthState Stock Up 0.3%

SSB opened at $96.5970 on Thursday. 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 firm has a 50 day moving average price of $93.96 and a 200-day moving average price of $92.67. SouthState Co. has a twelve month low of $77.74 and a twelve month high of $114.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.88 and a beta of 0.79.

SouthState (NASDAQ:SSB) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The bank reported $2.30 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.98 by $0.32. SouthState had a net margin of 22.38% and a return on equity of 9.62%. The business had revenue of $840.50 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $645.12 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.74 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that SouthState Co. will post 8.12 earnings per share for the current year.

SouthState Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 8th were issued a dividend of $0.60 per share. This is an increase from SouthState’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.54. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 8th. SouthState’s dividend payout ratio is currently 35.77%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SSB has been the topic of several analyst reports. DA Davidson upped their target price on shares of SouthState from $115.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Truist Financial initiated coverage on shares of SouthState in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $106.00 target price on the stock. Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $117.00 target price (up previously from $113.00) on shares of SouthState in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $119.00 target price on shares of SouthState in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of SouthState in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. They set a “buy” rating and a $110.00 price objective for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, SouthState has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $115.27.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other SouthState news, Director G Stacy Smith bought 2,500 shares of SouthState stock in a transaction on Friday, August 1st. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $92.30 per share, with a total value of $230,750.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 39,546 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,650,095.80. This represents a 6.75% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Janet P. Froetscher bought 3,338 shares of SouthState stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 30th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $97.31 per share, with a total value of $324,820.78. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 8,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $807,089.14. The trade was a 67.35% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have acquired 8,338 shares of company stock valued at $786,321. 1.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.