VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al Makes New Investment in SouthState Bank Corporation $SSB

VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al bought a new stake in shares of SouthState Bank Corporation (NYSE:SSB) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund bought 34,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,447,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FJ Capital Management LLC grew its stake in SouthState Bank by 54.0% in the fourth quarter. FJ Capital Management LLC now owns 813,033 shares of the company’s stock valued at $76,515,000 after purchasing an additional 285,091 shares in the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new stake in shares of SouthState Bank in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $4,898,000. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of SouthState Bank by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,866,033 shares of the company’s stock valued at $175,653,000 after buying an additional 85,981 shares in the last quarter. NFJ Investment Group LLC acquired a new position in SouthState Bank in the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,930,000. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its position in SouthState Bank by 350.8% during the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 22,315 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,100,000 after acquiring an additional 17,365 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

SouthState Bank Trading Down 1.1%

Shares of SouthState Bank stock opened at $105.45 on Thursday. SouthState Bank Corporation has a 1 year low of $84.47 and a 1 year high of $112.20. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $105.34 and its 200-day simple moving average is $99.16. The company has a market cap of $10.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.09 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06.

SouthState Bank (NYSE:SSB) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The company reported $2.35 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.31 by $0.04. SouthState Bank had a net margin of 25.09% and a return on equity of 10.67%. The firm had revenue of $672.67 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $676.83 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.30 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that SouthState Bank Corporation will post 9.51 EPS for the current year.

SouthState Bank Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 7th were given a dividend of $0.66 per share. This is an increase from SouthState Bank’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 7th. SouthState Bank’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 27.76%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on SSB. UBS Group downgraded shares of SouthState Bank from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $108.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Citigroup raised their target price on SouthState Bank from $115.00 to $126.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on SouthState Bank from $115.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. Truist Financial raised their price objective on SouthState Bank from $108.00 to $118.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded SouthState Bank from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $119.64.

Insider Activity

In other SouthState Bank news, CFO William Matthews sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $108.93, for a total value of $435,720.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 40,568 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,419,072.24. This represents a 8.98% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director David R. Brooks sold 24,650 shares of SouthState Bank stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $110.00, for a total value of $2,711,500.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 7,900 shares in the company, valued at $869,000. The trade was a 75.73% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders sold 34,831 shares of company stock valued at $3,814,274. 1.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About SouthState Bank

SouthState Bank (NYSE: SSB) is a bank holding company headquartered in Winter Haven, Florida, that provides a range of commercial and retail banking services. Through its subsidiary, SouthState Bank, the company serves businesses, institutions and individuals with deposit, lending and treasury management solutions. Its core business lines include commercial and industrial loans, commercial real estate lending, consumer mortgages and home equity loans.

In addition to traditional lending and deposit products, SouthState Bank offers specialized services such as treasury and cash management, merchant services, payment solutions and online banking.