Alliancebernstein L.P. Grows Stake in SouthState Co. (NASDAQ:SSB)

Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its holdings in SouthState Co. (NASDAQ:SSB) by 27.2% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 207,705 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 44,445 shares during the quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P.’s holdings in SouthState were worth $20,662,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC increased its stake in SouthState by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 46,709 shares of the bank’s stock worth $4,491,000 after acquiring an additional 987 shares during the last quarter. Summit Securities Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of SouthState during the fourth quarter worth about $38,000. Intrust Bank NA bought a new position in shares of SouthState in the fourth quarter worth approximately $213,000. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA raised its stake in SouthState by 13.9% in the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 11,759 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,170,000 after purchasing an additional 1,431 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in SouthState during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $67,260,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

SouthState Stock Up 0.7 %

SSB opened at $82.02 on Tuesday. SouthState Co. has a 12 month low of $70.68 and a 12 month high of $114.27. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $97.45 and its 200-day moving average price is $100.19. The company has a market cap of $8.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.78 and a beta of 0.65.

SouthState Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th were given a $0.54 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $2.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.63%. SouthState’s payout ratio is currently 31.03%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $130.00 price target on shares of SouthState in a report on Friday, March 7th. UBS Group started coverage on shares of SouthState in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $132.00 target price for the company. Barclays began coverage on SouthState in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. They set an “overweight” rating and a $120.00 price target on the stock. Citigroup upgraded SouthState from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $106.00 to $128.00 in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Raymond James upgraded SouthState from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $120.00 to $115.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $118.40.

Insider Activity

In other SouthState news, Director G Stacy Smith purchased 3,100 shares of SouthState stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were bought at an average price of $93.60 per share, for a total transaction of $290,160.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 36,779 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,442,514.40. This trade represents a 9.20 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO William E. V. Matthews sold 6,531 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $108.29, for a total value 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 approximately $3,693,447.03. This trade represents a 16.07 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.70% 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.