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

NFJ Investment Group LLC grew its position in SouthState Co. (NASDAQ:SSB) by 17.1% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 51,929 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,598 shares during the period. NFJ Investment Group LLC’s holdings in SouthState were worth $5,046,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in SouthState by 6.2% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 49,792 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $4,234,000 after acquiring an additional 2,899 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of SouthState by 120.7% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 609 shares of the bank’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 333 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its position in shares of SouthState by 234.5% during the 2nd quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 26,208 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,003,000 after purchasing an additional 18,374 shares during the last quarter. Hunter Perkins Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in SouthState by 8.3% in the 2nd quarter. Hunter Perkins Capital Management LLC now owns 32,420 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,478,000 after buying an additional 2,490 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in SouthState by 286.8% during the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 4,526 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $346,000 after buying an additional 3,356 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

SouthState Price Performance

SSB opened at $109.78 on Wednesday. SouthState Co. has a 1 year low of $70.68 and a 1 year high of $114.26. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $101.90 and its 200 day simple moving average is $91.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.38 billion, a PE ratio of 16.94 and a beta of 0.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.92.

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

SouthState Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.97%. SouthState’s dividend payout ratio is presently 33.33%.

Insider Transactions at SouthState

In other news, insider Daniel E. Bockhorst sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.00, for a total value of $250,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 33,328 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,332,800. This represents a 6.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO William E. V. Matthews sold 5,000 shares of SouthState stock in a transaction on Friday, September 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.00, for a total transaction of $500,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 36,964 shares in the company, valued at $3,696,400. The trade was a 11.91 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.70% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Truist Financial cut their price target on SouthState from $111.00 to $103.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 28th. Stephens boosted their target price on shares of SouthState from $101.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of SouthState from $110.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Hovde Group lowered shares of SouthState from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an “outperform” rating and set a $120.00 target price (up previously from $115.00) on shares of SouthState in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $105.11.

SouthState Company 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.