Southern States Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:SSBK) Short Interest Up 21.7% in January

Southern States Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:SSBK) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 41,500 shares, an increase of 21.7% from the December 31st total of 34,100 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 21,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.0 days. Currently, 0.6% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Southern States Bancshares Trading Down 2.1 %

SSBK traded down $0.71 during trading on Friday, reaching $32.88. The company had a trading volume of 10,888 shares, compared to its average volume of 25,020. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $34.44 and its 200 day simple moving average is $32.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02. The company has a market cap of $324.85 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.96 and a beta of 0.34. Southern States Bancshares has a 12-month low of $22.13 and a 12-month high of $39.16.

Southern States Bancshares (NASDAQ:SSBK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The company reported $1.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Southern States Bancshares had a net margin of 19.68% and a return on equity of 15.04%.

Southern States Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd will be given a $0.09 dividend. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 3rd. Southern States Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.81%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Southern States Bancshares by 22.4% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 50,521 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,371,000 after acquiring an additional 9,244 shares during the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC bought a new stake in Southern States Bancshares during the second quarter worth approximately $257,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Southern States Bancshares during the third quarter valued at approximately $471,000. GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new position in shares of Southern States Bancshares in the third quarter valued at approximately $276,000. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southern States Bancshares in the third quarter worth $208,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 58.73% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Hovde Group reduced their price objective on shares of Southern States Bancshares from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd.

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.