Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. Acquires 565,196 Shares of SouthState Bank Corporation $SSB

Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. raised its holdings in shares of SouthState Bank Corporation (NYSE:SSB) by 346.0% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 728,548 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 565,196 shares during the period. SouthState Bank comprises about 1.3% of Deprince Race & Zollo Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest holding. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc.’s holdings in SouthState Bank were worth $67,405,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of SouthState Bank by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,937,359 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,029,315,000 after buying an additional 161,928 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in SouthState Bank by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,729,496 shares of the company’s stock worth $445,101,000 after acquiring an additional 62,879 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in SouthState Bank by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,866,033 shares of the company’s stock worth $175,653,000 after acquiring an additional 85,981 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in SouthState Bank by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,647,727 shares of the company’s stock worth $155,068,000 after purchasing an additional 56,693 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in SouthState Bank by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,623,728 shares of the company’s stock worth $152,809,000 after purchasing an additional 15,787 shares during the period. 89.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on SSB shares. Weiss Ratings lowered SouthState Bank from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $125.00 target price on shares of SouthState Bank in a research note on Wednesday, June 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of SouthState Bank from $115.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of SouthState Bank from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, May 17th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of SouthState Bank from $116.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $118.71.

Insider Transactions at SouthState Bank

In other SouthState Bank news, Director David R. Brooks sold 14,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.39, for a total value of $1,406,977.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 12,700 shares in the company, valued at $1,249,553. This trade represents a 52.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 1.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

SouthState Bank Stock Performance

Shares of SSB stock opened at $101.41 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.94 and a beta of 0.70. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $96.23 and a 200 day moving average of $97.14. SouthState Bank Corporation has a 52 week low of $84.47 and a 52 week high of $108.46. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

SouthState Bank (NYSE:SSB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 23rd. The company reported $2.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.21 by $0.07. SouthState Bank had a net margin of 24.75% and a return on equity of 10.81%. The business had revenue of $661.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $669.28 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.87 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that SouthState Bank Corporation will post 9.5 earnings per share for the current year.

SouthState Bank Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Investors of record on Friday, May 8th were paid a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 8th. SouthState Bank’s dividend payout ratio is presently 25.89%.

SouthState Bank Company Profile

SouthState Bank (NYSE: SSB) is a bank holding company headquartered in Winter Haven, Florida, that provides a range of commercial and retail banking services. Through its subsidiary, SouthState Bank, the company serves businesses, institutions and individuals with deposit, lending and treasury management solutions. Its core business lines include commercial and industrial loans, commercial real estate lending, consumer mortgages and home equity loans.

In addition to traditional lending and deposit products, SouthState Bank offers specialized services such as treasury and cash management, merchant services, payment solutions and online banking.