New York State Common Retirement Fund Cuts Position in SouthState Co. (NASDAQ:SSB)

New York State Common Retirement Fund trimmed its holdings in shares of SouthState Co. (NASDAQ:SSB) by 6.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 218,868 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 15,439 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned 0.29% of SouthState worth $21,773,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of SSB. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new stake in shares of SouthState during the 4th quarter valued at $21,498,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its holdings in SouthState by 64.1% during 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 worth $25,809,000 after buying an additional 103,756 shares during the last quarter. Stieven Capital Advisors L.P. bought a new stake in SouthState in the third quarter worth about $9,086,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in 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 last quarter. Finally, Prospector Partners LLC grew its position in shares of SouthState by 52.8% during the 3rd quarter. Prospector Partners LLC now owns 185,250 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $18,003,000 after acquiring an additional 64,013 shares during the period. 89.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at SouthState

In other news, CFO William E. V. Matthews sold 6,531 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $108.29, for a total transaction of $707,241.99. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 34,107 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,693,447.03. The trade was a 16.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.26% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on SSB. Piper Sandler upped 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $120.00 target price (up from $115.00) on shares of SouthState in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Citigroup upgraded SouthState from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $106.00 to $128.00 in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Hovde Group cut SouthState from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, Truist Financial cut their target price on shares of SouthState from $111.00 to $103.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $115.44.

SouthState Price Performance

SSB stock opened at $99.19 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $101.46 and a 200-day moving average of $100.15. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $7.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.25 and a beta of 0.70. SouthState Co. has a 12 month low of $70.68 and a 12 month high of $114.26.

SouthState Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.18%. SouthState’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 31.03%.

SouthState Company Profile

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.