The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Increases Position in SouthState Co. (NASDAQ:SSB)

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its holdings in SouthState Co. (NASDAQ:SSB - Free Report) by 4.9% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 731,802 shares of the bank's stock after purchasing an additional 34,194 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company owned approximately 0.96% of SouthState worth $71,117,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in SSB. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. raised its stake in SouthState by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. now owns 19,259 shares of the bank's stock worth $1,472,000 after acquiring an additional 123 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates raised its holdings in shares of SouthState by 0.6% in the second quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 21,343 shares of the bank's stock valued at $1,631,000 after acquiring an additional 126 shares in the last quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC raised its holdings in SouthState by 7.0% in the third quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 2,837 shares of the bank's stock worth $274,000 after purchasing an additional 186 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. grew its stake in shares of SouthState by 53.9% during the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 548 shares of the bank's stock worth $53,000 after acquiring an additional 192 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV grew its stake in shares of SouthState by 16.3% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,296 shares of the bank's stock worth $223,000 after acquiring an additional 321 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.76% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Hovde Group cut SouthState from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Citigroup assumed coverage on SouthState in a report on Thursday, October 10th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $102.00 price objective on the stock. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on SouthState from $110.00 to $112.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Stephens boosted their price target on SouthState from $101.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an "outperform" rating and set a $120.00 price objective (up previously from $115.00) on shares of SouthState in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $105.11.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other SouthState news, CFO William E. V. Matthews sold 5,000 shares of SouthState stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.00, for a total transaction of $500,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 36,964 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,696,400. This trade represents a 11.91 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Daniel E. Bockhorst sold 2,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.00, for a total value of $250,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 33,328 shares in the company, valued at $3,332,800. This trade represents a 6.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

SouthState Price Performance

SSB traded up $0.23 during trading on Thursday, reaching $111.25. 578,341 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 489,719. The company's 50-day moving average is $101.02 and its two-hundred day moving average is $90.56. SouthState Co. has a 12-month low of $70.68 and a 12-month high of $114.26. The company has a market cap of $8.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.17 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10.

SouthState (NASDAQ:SSB - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The bank reported $1.90 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.64 by $0.26. SouthState had a return on equity of 9.41% and a net margin of 21.24%. The company had revenue of $426.41 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $429.47 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.62 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that SouthState Co. will post 6.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SouthState Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Friday, November 8th were given 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 1.94%. SouthState's dividend payout ratio is currently 33.33%.

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.