Gamco Investors INC. ET AL Raises Stock Holdings in SouthState Co. (NASDAQ:SSB)

Gamco Investors INC. ET AL boosted its stake in SouthState Co. (NASDAQ:SSB) by 2.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 53,466 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 1,458 shares during the period. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL owned approximately 0.07% of SouthState worth $4,546,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

SouthState Stock Up 3.0 %

SSB traded up $2.89 on Friday, reaching $100.18. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 751,155 shares, compared to its average volume of 672,189. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $78.87 and a two-hundred day moving average of $80.46. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The company has a market capitalization of $7.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.04 and a beta of 0.68. SouthState Co. has a fifty-two week low of $63.36 and a fifty-two week high of $100.46.

SouthState (NASDAQ:SSB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The bank reported $1.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $425.48 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $418.08 million. SouthState had a return on equity of 9.31% and a net margin of 20.84%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.63 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that SouthState Co. will post 6.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

SouthState Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 16th. Investors of record on Friday, August 9th will be issued a $0.54 dividend. This represents a $2.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.16%. This is an increase from SouthState’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 9th. SouthState’s dividend payout ratio is 33.93%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have weighed in on SSB shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on SouthState from $92.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 28th. Raymond James raised SouthState from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $90.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 21st. DA Davidson boosted their price objective on SouthState from $102.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and set a $88.00 price objective on shares of SouthState in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on SouthState from $95.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $93.43.

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.