Principal Financial Group Inc. Has $17.19 Million Holdings in SouthState Co. (NASDAQ:SSB)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of SouthState Co. (NASDAQ:SSB - Free Report) by 40.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 176,851 shares of the bank's stock after selling 121,688 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.23% of SouthState worth $17,186,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Synovus Financial Corp increased its holdings in shares of SouthState by 64.8% in the third quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 116,404 shares of the bank's stock valued at $11,312,000 after purchasing an additional 45,785 shares during the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new position in SouthState in the 3rd quarter valued at about $265,000. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in SouthState by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,820,303 shares of the bank's stock valued at $176,931,000 after acquiring an additional 31,340 shares during the period. XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new stake in SouthState during the third quarter worth approximately $445,000. Finally, Jane Street Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of SouthState by 14.5% during the third quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 149,411 shares of the bank's stock worth $14,520,000 after acquiring an additional 18,881 shares during the period. 89.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SSB has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $120.00 target price (up previously from $115.00) on shares of SouthState in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. UBS Group began coverage on shares of SouthState in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $132.00 target price for the company. Citigroup began coverage on shares of SouthState in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $102.00 price target on the stock. Stephens raised shares of SouthState from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of SouthState from $110.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $109.78.

SouthState Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ SSB traded down $1.66 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $100.62. 417,450 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 495,695. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $104.76 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $94.87. The company has a market cap of $7.68 billion, a PE ratio of 15.53 and a beta of 0.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.92. SouthState Co. has a 1-year low of $70.68 and a 1-year high of $114.26.

SouthState (NASDAQ:SSB - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The bank reported $1.90 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.64 by $0.26. SouthState had a return on equity of 9.41% and a net margin of 21.24%. The firm had revenue of $426.41 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $429.47 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.62 EPS. The company's revenue was down .4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that SouthState Co. will post 6.94 EPS for the current year.

SouthState Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 8th were issued a $0.54 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $2.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.15%. SouthState's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 33.33%.

SouthState 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.