SouthState Co. (NASDAQ:SSB) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of SouthState Co. (NASDAQ:SSB) have been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the eight ratings firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $102.75.

Several research firms have commented on SSB. Raymond James raised SouthState from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $90.00 price target for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 21st. Truist Financial upped their price target on SouthState from $81.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Hovde Group upped their price target on SouthState from $97.00 to $112.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on SouthState from $95.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 29th. Finally, DA Davidson upped their price target on SouthState from $102.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On SouthState

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of SSB. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of SouthState in the 4th quarter worth approximately $75,485,000. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in SouthState by 26.8% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,208,224 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $186,485,000 after purchasing an additional 466,144 shares in the last quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. increased its holdings in SouthState by 270.2% during the 1st quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 353,700 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $30,075,000 after purchasing an additional 258,168 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its holdings in SouthState by 31.8% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 620,510 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $52,402,000 after purchasing an additional 149,745 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors increased its holdings in SouthState by 24.2% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 596,520 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $50,376,000 after purchasing an additional 116,313 shares in the last quarter. 89.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

SouthState Price Performance

NASDAQ SSB opened at $88.61 on Wednesday. SouthState has a twelve month low of $63.36 and a twelve month high of $101.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 0.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.75 billion, a PE ratio of 14.46 and a beta of 0.68. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $81.13 and a 200 day simple moving average of $81.10.

SouthState (NASDAQ:SSB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The bank reported $1.79 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.25. SouthState had a return on equity of 9.31% and a net margin of 20.84%. The business had revenue of $425.48 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $418.08 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.63 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that SouthState will post 6.64 EPS for the current year.

SouthState Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 9th will be issued a $0.54 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 9th. This is a boost from SouthState’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. This represents a $2.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.44%. SouthState’s dividend payout ratio is presently 35.24%.

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.