Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 121,688 Shares of SouthState Co. (NASDAQ:SSB)

Principal Financial Group Inc. trimmed its holdings in SouthState Co. (NASDAQ:SSB - Free Report) by 40.8% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and 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 0.23% of SouthState worth $17,186,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Waldron Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in SouthState during the third quarter valued at $35,000. UMB Bank n.a. increased its holdings in shares of SouthState by 53.9% in the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 548 shares of the bank's stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 192 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of SouthState by 120.7% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 609 shares of the bank's stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 333 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of SouthState during the second quarter worth approximately $97,000. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in SouthState by 9,620.0% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,458 shares of the bank's stock valued at $142,000 after purchasing an additional 1,443 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.76% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Daniel E. Bockhorst sold 2,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.00, for a total value of $250,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 33,328 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,332,800. The trade was a 6.98 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO William E. V. Matthews sold 5,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.00, for a total transaction of $500,000.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 36,964 shares in the company, valued at $3,696,400. This trade represents a 11.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.26% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SSB has been the topic of a number of research reports. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of SouthState from $110.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. DA Davidson lifted their price target on SouthState from $102.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Citigroup assumed coverage on SouthState in a report on Thursday, October 10th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $102.00 price objective on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $120.00 price target (up previously from $115.00) on shares of SouthState in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Stephens lifted their price objective on SouthState from $101.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, SouthState has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $105.11.

SouthState Price Performance

Shares of SSB stock traded down $0.91 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $105.58. The company had a trading volume of 163,428 shares, compared to its average volume of 485,417. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.40 and a beta of 0.66. SouthState Co. has a 12 month low of $70.68 and a 12 month high of $113.14. The firm's fifty day moving average is $98.68 and its 200 day moving average is $88.67.

SouthState (NASDAQ:SSB - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The bank reported $1.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.64 by $0.26. The firm had revenue of $426.41 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $429.47 million. SouthState had a return on equity of 9.41% and a net margin of 21.24%. The business's revenue for the quarter was down .4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.62 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that SouthState Co. will post 6.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

SouthState Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.54 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 8th. This represents a $2.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.05%. SouthState's dividend payout ratio is currently 33.33%.

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.