8-K

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

 FORM 8-K 

CURRENT REPORT

PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d)

OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

March 12, 2020

Date of Report (Date of earliest event reported)

Southside Bancshares, Inc.

(Exact Name of Registrant as Specified in its Charter)

Texas	000-12247	75-1848732
(State or Other Jurisdiction of Incorporation)	(Commission File Number)	(IRS Employer Identification No.)

1201 S. Beckham Avenue,	Tyler,	TX	75701
(Address of Principal Executive Offices)			(Zip Code)

Registrant's telephone number, including area code: (903) 531-7111

NA

(Former Name or Former Address, if Changed Since Last Report)

Check the appropriate box below if the Form 8-K filing is intended to simultaneously satisfy the filing obligation of the registrant under any of the following provisions:

☐	Written communications pursuant to Rule 425 under the Securities Act (17 CFR 230.425)
☐	Soliciting material pursuant to Rule 14a-12 under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.14a-12)
☐	Pre-commencement communications pursuant to Rule 14d-2(b) under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.14d-2(b))
☐	Pre-commencement communications pursuant to Rule 13e-4(c) under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.13e-4(c))

Securities Registered Pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

Title of each class	Trading Symbol	Name of each exchange on which registered
Common stock, $1.25 par value	SBSI	NASDAQ Global Select Market

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is an emerging growth company as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act of 1933 (§230.405 of this chapter) or Rule 12b-2 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (§240.12b-2 of this chapter).
	Emerging growth company	☐
If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act.		☐

ITEM 8.01. OTHER EVENTS

On March 12, 2020, the Board of Directors of Southside Bancshares Inc., (the “Company”) increased its authorization under the Company’s current Stock Repurchase Plan (the “Plan”) by an additional 1.0 million shares, for a total authorization to repurchase up to 2.0 million shares of the Company's common stock from time to time.

Under the Plan, previously announced in September 2019, the Company has purchased approximately 387,000 shares at an average price of $31.52 through March 12, 2020, resulting in approximately 1.6 million authorized shares remaining.

Repurchases may be carried out in open market purchases, privately negotiated transactions and pursuant to a trading plan in accordance with Rule 10b5-1 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. The Company has no obligation to repurchase any shares under the Plan and may modify, suspend or discontinue the Plan at any time.

Additionally, on March 12, 2020, the Company entered into a Rule 10b5-1 Trading Plan (the “Trading Plan”), to facilitate the repurchase of shares of its common stock under the Plan. A trading plan under Rule 10b5-1 allows a company to repurchase its shares at times when it otherwise might be prevented from doing so by securities law or because of self-imposed trading blackout periods. Any repurchases made pursuant to the Trading Plan will be made in accordance with certain trading parameters set forth in the Trading Plan as well as the price, volume and timing limitations set forth under Rule 10b-18.

Pursuant to General Instruction F to Form 8-K, a copy of the press release is attached hereto as Exhibit 99.1 and is incorporated into this Item 8.01 by this reference.

ITEM 9.01. FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND EXHIBITS

(D) Exhibits.  

Exhibit Number	Description of Exhibit
99.1	Press Release dated March 13, 2020, issued by Southside Bancshares, Inc.
104	Cover Page Interactive Data File (embedded within the Inline XBRL document).

SIGNATURE

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, the Registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned hereunto duly authorized.

		Southside Bancshares, Inc.
Date:  March 13, 2020	By:	/s/ JULIE N. SHAMBURGER
		Julie N. Shamburger, CPA
		Chief Financial Officer
		(Principal Financial and Accounting Officer)

EX-99.1

EXHIBIT 99.1

SOUTHSIDE BANCSHARES, INC. INCREASES STOCK REPURCHASE PLAN AUTHORIZATION

Tyler, Texas (March 13, 2020) - Southside Bancshares, Inc., (NASDAQ:SBSI), the holding company of Southside Bank, announced that its Board of Directors has increased its authorization under the Company’s current Stock Repurchase Plan (the “Plan”) by an additional 1.0 million shares, for a total authorization to repurchase up to 2.0 million shares of the Company's common stock from time to time.

Under the Plan, previously announced in September 2019, the Company has purchased approximately 387,000 shares at an average price of $31.52 through March 12, 2020, resulting in approximately 1.6 million authorized shares remaining.

“We believe the recent market volatility has created an opportunity to purchase our shares at attractive price levels,” stated Lee R. Gibson, President and Chief Executive Officer of Southside. “The increased authorization reflects our continued confidence in Southside and commitment to returning capital to our shareholders.”

Repurchases may be carried out in open market purchases, privately negotiated transactions and pursuant to any trading plan that might be adopted in accordance with Rule 10b5-1 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. The Company has no obligation to repurchase any shares under the Plan and may modify, suspend or discontinue the Plan at any time.

About Southside Bancshares, Inc.

Southside Bancshares, Inc. is a bank holding company headquartered in Tyler, Texas, with approximately $6.75 billion in assets as of December 31, 2019. Through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Southside Bank, Southside currently operates 60 branches and a network of 82 ATMs/ITMs throughout East Texas, Southeast Texas, Dallas/Fort Worth and Austin. Serving customers since 1960, Southside Bank is a community-focused financial institution that offers a full range of financial products and services to individuals and businesses. These products and services include consumer and commercial loans, mortgages, deposit accounts, safe deposit boxes, treasury management, wealth management, trust services, brokerage services and an array of online and mobile services.

To learn more about Southside Bancshares, Inc., please visit our investor relations website at https://investors.southside.com. Our investor relations site provides a detailed overview of our activities, financial information and historical stock price data. To receive e-mail notification of company news, events and stock activity, please register on the E-mail Notification portion of the website. Questions or comments may be directed to Lindsey Bailes at (903) 630-7965, or lindsey.bailes@southside.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements of other than historical fact that are contained in this report may be considered to be “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of and subject to the safe harbor protections of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.  These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, nor should they be relied upon as representing management’s views as of any subsequent date.  These statements may include words such as “expect,” “estimate,” “project,” “anticipate,” “appear,” “believe,” “could,” “should,” “may,” “might,” “will,” “would,” “seek,” “intend,” “probability,” “risk,” “goal,” “target,” “objective,” “plans,” “potential,” and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements are statements with respect to our beliefs, plans, expectations, objectives, goals, anticipations, assumptions, estimates, intentions and future performance and are subject to significant known and unknown risks and uncertainties, which could cause our actual results to differ materially from the results discussed in the forward-looking statements.  For example, discussions of the effect of our expansion, benefits of the Share Repurchase Plan, trends in asset quality and earnings from growth, and certain market risk disclosures are based upon information presently available to management and are dependent on choices about key model characteristics and assumptions and are subject to various limitations.  By their nature, certain of the market risk disclosures are only estimates and could be materially different from what actually occurs in the future.

Additional information concerning the Company and its business, including additional factors that could materially affect the Company’s financial results, is included in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019, under “Part I - Item 1. Forward Looking Information” and "Part I - Item 1A. Risk Factors" and in the Company’s other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.  The Company disclaims any obligation to update any factors or to announce publicly the result of revisions to any of the forward-looking statements included herein to reflect future events or developments.

XML

Document and Entity Information Document	Mar. 12, 2020
Cover page.
Entity Central Index Key	0000705432
Document Type	8-K
Document Period End Date	Mar. 12, 2020
Entity Registrant Name	Southside Bancshares, Inc.
Entity Emerging Growth Company	false
Entity Incorporation, State or Country Code	TX
Entity File Number	000-12247
Entity Tax Identification Number	75-1848732
Entity Address, Address Line One	1201 S. Beckham Avenue,
Entity Address, City or Town	Tyler,
Entity Address, State or Province	TX
Entity Address, Postal Zip Code	75701
City Area Code	903
Local Phone Number	531-7111
Written Communications	false
Soliciting Material	false
Pre-commencement Tender Offer	false
Pre-commencement Issuer Tender Offer	false
Title of 12(b) Security	Common stock, $1.25 par value
Trading Symbol	SBSI
Security Exchange Name	NASDAQ
Amendment Flag	false