The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Increases Stake in SouthState Bank Corporation $SSB

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its stake in shares of SouthState Bank Corporation (NYSE:SSB) by 0.6% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 855,527 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,764 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company’s holdings in SouthState Bank were worth $85,467,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in SSB. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in SouthState Bank in the second quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Root Financial Partners LLC grew its holdings in SouthState Bank by 100.0% during the 1st quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 420 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 210 shares in the last quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in shares of SouthState Bank in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $50,000. Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of SouthState Bank in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $51,000. Finally, GHP Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of SouthState Bank in the 1st quarter valued at $52,000. 89.76% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

SouthState Bank Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of SouthState Bank stock opened at $105.93 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $105.57 and a 200-day simple moving average of $99.21. SouthState Bank Corporation has a 12-month low of $84.47 and a 12-month high of $112.20. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The stock has a market cap of $10.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.14 and a beta of 0.72.

SouthState Bank (NYSE:SSB) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The company reported $2.35 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $676.83 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.30 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that SouthState Bank Corporation will post 9.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

SouthState Bank Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 7th were paid a $0.66 dividend. This is a boost from SouthState Bank’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 7th. SouthState Bank’s payout ratio is currently 27.76%.

Insider Activity

In other SouthState Bank news, Director David Brooks sold 24,650 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $110.00, for a total transaction of $2,711,500.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 7,900 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $869,000. This trade represents a 75.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO William E. V. Matthews sold 4,000 shares of SouthState Bank stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $108.93, for a total value of $435,720.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 40,568 shares in the company, valued at $4,419,072.24. This trade represents a 8.98% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 34,831 shares of company stock worth $3,814,274. Corporate insiders own 1.70% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on SSB shares. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of SouthState Bank from $115.00 to $126.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Weiss Ratings upgraded SouthState Bank from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 14th. Wall Street Zen downgraded SouthState Bank from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, July 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on SouthState Bank from $115.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. Finally, Barclays dropped their price objective on SouthState Bank from $123.00 to $118.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $119.64.

SouthState Bank Profile

SouthState Bank is the principal banking subsidiary of SouthState Corporation (NYSE: SSB), a regional financial institution headquartered in Winter Haven, Florida. The bank provides banking and financial services to individuals, families, businesses and institutions through a network of branches and digital banking channels.

Its offerings include checking and savings accounts, consumer and commercial lending, mortgages, credit cards, treasury management, cash management and online and mobile banking.