Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Raises Position in SouthState Co. (NASDAQ:SSB)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System increased its holdings in SouthState Co. (NASDAQ:SSB) by 0.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 21,200 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in SouthState were worth $2,109,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in SouthState during the fourth quarter valued at about $137,000. Empowered Funds LLC purchased a new stake in SouthState during the fourth quarter valued at about $3,769,000. Caprock Group LLC raised its position in SouthState by 5.8% during the fourth quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 2,567 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $255,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares in the last quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in SouthState during the fourth quarter valued at about $233,000. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position in SouthState by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 11,371 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,131,000 after purchasing an additional 207 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

SouthState Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ SSB opened at $102.20 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $102.15 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $99.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.80 billion, a PE ratio of 14.68 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. SouthState Co. has a 12 month low of $70.68 and a 12 month high of $114.26.

SouthState Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th were given a dividend of $0.54 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $2.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.11%. SouthState’s payout ratio is 31.03%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Citigroup upgraded SouthState from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $106.00 to $128.00 in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on SouthState from $111.00 to $103.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on SouthState from $110.00 to $112.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Hovde Group cut SouthState from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $120.00 price objective (up from $115.00) on shares of SouthState in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $115.44.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other SouthState news, CFO William E. V. Matthews sold 6,531 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 34,107 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,693,447.03. This represents a 16.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 1.26% 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.