Holocene Advisors LP Sells 149,807 Shares of SouthState Co. (NASDAQ:SSB)

Holocene Advisors LP lessened its stake in shares of SouthState Co. (NASDAQ:SSB) by 28.1% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 382,468 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 149,807 shares during the period. Holocene Advisors LP’s holdings in SouthState were worth $37,168,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of SouthState by 12.6% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,328,984 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $254,394,000 after purchasing an additional 371,987 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its position in shares of SouthState by 64.1% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 265,578 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $25,809,000 after purchasing an additional 103,756 shares during the last quarter. F M Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of SouthState during the 2nd quarter worth about $7,303,000. Stieven Capital Advisors L.P. bought a new position in SouthState in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $9,086,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of SouthState by 7.9% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 987,849 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $95,999,000 after acquiring an additional 72,181 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

SouthState Stock Performance

SouthState stock opened at $109.34 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.95 and a beta of 0.69. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $101.66 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $91.25. SouthState Co. has a 52-week low of $70.68 and a 52-week high of $114.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.91.

SouthState (NASDAQ:SSB) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The bank reported $1.90 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.64 by $0.26. SouthState had a net margin of 21.24% and a return on equity of 9.41%. The business had revenue of $426.41 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $429.47 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.62 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that SouthState Co. will post 6.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

SouthState Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 8th were paid a $0.54 dividend. This represents a $2.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.98%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. SouthState’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 33.33%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on SSB. Stephens upped their target price on shares of SouthState from $101.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Citigroup assumed coverage on SouthState in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $102.00 price objective for the company. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on SouthState from $110.00 to $112.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Hovde Group cut SouthState from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $120.00 price target (up previously from $115.00) on shares of SouthState in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, SouthState presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $105.11.

Insider Transactions at SouthState

In related news, CFO William E. V. Matthews sold 5,000 shares of SouthState stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.00, for a total value of $500,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Daniel E. Bockhorst sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.00, for a total transaction of $250,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 33,328 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,332,800. This trade represents a 6.98 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.