NFJ Investment Group LLC Boosts Holdings in SouthState Co. (NASDAQ:SSB)

NFJ Investment Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of SouthState Co. (NASDAQ:SSB) by 17.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 51,929 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 7,598 shares during the period. NFJ Investment Group LLC owned about 0.07% of SouthState worth $5,046,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SSB. Waldron Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in SouthState in the third quarter valued at $35,000. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 192 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in SouthState by 120.7% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 609 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 333 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new stake in SouthState during the second quarter worth approximately $97,000. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of SouthState by 9,620.0% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,458 shares of the bank’s stock worth $142,000 after buying an additional 1,443 shares during the last quarter. 89.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

SouthState Stock Up 0.4 %

SouthState stock opened at $109.78 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.94 and a beta of 0.69. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $101.90 and a two-hundred day moving average of $91.46. SouthState Co. has a twelve month low of $70.68 and a twelve month high of $114.26.

SouthState (NASDAQ:SSB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The bank reported $1.90 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.64 by $0.26. The firm had revenue of $426.41 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $429.47 million. SouthState had a return on equity of 9.41% and a net margin of 21.24%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.62 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that SouthState Co. will post 6.94 earnings per share for the current year.

SouthState Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 8th were paid a dividend of $0.54 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $2.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.97%. SouthState’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 33.33%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other SouthState news, insider Daniel E. Bockhorst sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.00, for a total transaction of $250,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 33,328 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,332,800. The trade was a 6.98 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO William E. V. Matthews sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 20th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $3,696,400. This represents a 11.91 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on SSB. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $120.00 target price (up from $115.00) on shares of SouthState in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Citigroup began 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 target price on SouthState from $110.00 to $112.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Truist Financial dropped their price target on SouthState from $111.00 to $103.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Finally, Stephens lifted their price target on SouthState from $101.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $105.11.

SouthState 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.