Fisher Asset Management LLC Increases Position in SouthState Co. (NASDAQ:SSB)

Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in SouthState Co. (NASDAQ:SSB) by 19.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 851,455 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 139,602 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC owned approximately 1.12% of SouthState worth $84,703,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of SSB. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of SouthState by 9,620.0% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,458 shares of the bank’s stock worth $142,000 after buying an additional 1,443 shares during the last quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue boosted its stake in shares of SouthState by 7.3% in the 3rd quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 8,817 shares of the bank’s stock worth $856,000 after buying an additional 600 shares during the last quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of SouthState by 7.0% in the 3rd quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 2,837 shares of the bank’s stock worth $274,000 after buying an additional 186 shares during the last quarter. F M Investments LLC lifted its stake in SouthState by 2.4% in the third quarter. F M Investments LLC now owns 97,876 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $9,512,000 after purchasing an additional 2,300 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in SouthState by 40.0% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 43,646 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $4,218,000 after purchasing an additional 12,471 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SSB has been the topic of several research analyst reports. UBS Group initiated coverage on SouthState in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $132.00 price objective on the stock. Citigroup upgraded SouthState from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $106.00 to $128.00 in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $120.00 price objective (up previously from $115.00) on shares of SouthState in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $130.00 price objective on shares of SouthState in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Hovde Group downgraded SouthState from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $115.44.

Insider Transactions at SouthState

In other news, CFO William E. V. Matthews sold 6,531 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $108.29, for a total value of $707,241.99. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 34,107 shares of the company’s stock, 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 SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.26% of the company’s stock.

SouthState Trading Up 1.5 %

NASDAQ:SSB opened at $100.73 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $7.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.47 and a beta of 0.70. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $101.13 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $100.55. SouthState Co. has a 1 year low of $70.68 and a 1 year high of $114.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.91.

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 issued a $0.54 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $2.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.14%. SouthState’s payout ratio is currently 31.03%.

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.