Loomis Sayles & Co. L P Sells 7,191 Shares of SouthState Co. (NASDAQ:SSB)

Loomis Sayles & Co. L P trimmed its holdings in shares of SouthState Co. (NASDAQ:SSB) by 3.7% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 188,562 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 7,191 shares during the quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P owned 0.25% of SouthState worth $18,324,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of SouthState by 234.5% in the second quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 26,208 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,003,000 after acquiring an additional 18,374 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of SouthState by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 711,853 shares of the bank’s stock worth $69,178,000 after purchasing an additional 25,495 shares during the period. BIP Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of SouthState by 605.2% in the 3rd quarter. BIP Wealth LLC now owns 31,422 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $3,054,000 after purchasing an additional 26,966 shares during the last quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. increased its position in shares of SouthState by 14.4% during the second quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 123,482 shares of the bank’s stock worth $9,437,000 after buying an additional 15,500 shares during the period. Finally, Mesirow Institutional Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in SouthState by 17.6% during the second quarter. Mesirow Institutional Investment Management Inc. now owns 201,724 shares of the bank’s stock worth $15,416,000 after buying an additional 30,234 shares during the last quarter. 89.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at SouthState

In other news, insider Daniel E. Bockhorst sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.00, for a total value of $250,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 33,328 shares in the company, valued at $3,332,800. The trade was a 6.98 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO William E. V. Matthews sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.00, for a total value of $500,000.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 36,964 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,696,400. The trade was a 11.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. Hovde Group downgraded SouthState from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Stephens raised their target price on SouthState from $101.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on SouthState from $110.00 to $112.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Citigroup assumed coverage on shares of SouthState in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $102.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Truist Financial dropped their target price on shares of SouthState from $111.00 to $103.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $105.11.

SouthState Stock Performance

Shares of SSB stock opened at $111.18 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $100.53 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $90.20. SouthState Co. has a 12 month low of $70.68 and a 12 month high of $114.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.48 billion, a PE ratio of 17.16 and a beta of 0.66.

SouthState (NASDAQ:SSB) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The bank reported $1.90 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.64 by $0.26. The company had revenue of $426.41 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $429.47 million. SouthState had a net margin of 21.24% and a return on equity of 9.41%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.62 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that SouthState Co. will post 6.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

SouthState Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Friday, November 8th were given a dividend of $0.54 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $2.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.94%. SouthState’s payout ratio is 33.33%.

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.