Southern States Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:SSBK) Sees Significant Decrease in Short Interest

Southern States Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:SSBK) was the recipient of a significant decrease in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 41,900 shares, a decrease of 16.5% from the March 15th total of 50,200 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 13,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.2 days. Currently, 0.6% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of Southern States Bancshares from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $32.00 to $35.00 in a research note on Friday, March 15th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in SSBK. BlackRock Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Southern States Bancshares by 473.8% in the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 357,363 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,540,000 after buying an additional 295,088 shares during the period. Banc Funds Co. LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Southern States Bancshares by 29.5% in the fourth quarter. Banc Funds Co. LLC now owns 732,343 shares of the company’s stock valued at $21,443,000 after buying an additional 166,700 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Southern States Bancshares by 353.5% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 202,679 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,676,000 after purchasing an additional 157,987 shares during the last quarter. Mendon Capital Advisors Corp acquired a new position in Southern States Bancshares during the fourth quarter worth $4,099,000. Finally, Fourthstone LLC boosted its holdings in Southern States Bancshares by 35.2% during the first quarter. Fourthstone LLC now owns 489,395 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,290,000 after purchasing an additional 127,295 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 58.73% of the company’s stock.

Southern States Bancshares Stock Down 2.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:SSBK opened at $23.39 on Friday. Southern States Bancshares has a 52 week low of $19.61 and a 52 week high of $30.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.05. The company has a market capitalization of $207.73 million, a PE ratio of 6.59 and a beta of 0.14. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $25.15 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $25.43.

Southern States Bancshares (NASDAQ:SSBK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 22nd. The company reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter. The company had revenue of $23.52 million during the quarter. Southern States Bancshares had a net margin of 22.64% and a return on equity of 15.52%.

Southern States Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 2nd were issued a $0.09 dividend. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.54%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 1st. Southern States Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.14%.

About Southern States Bancshares

Southern States Bancshares, Inc operates as the bank holding company for Southern States Bank that provides community banking services to businesses and individuals. The company provides various deposit products, such as savings, money market, and noninterest-bearing demand accounts; certificates of deposit; and time deposits.