Moody National Bank Trust Division Has $1.30 Million Stock Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Moody National Bank Trust Division reduced its stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 1.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 18,070 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 186 shares during the quarter. Moody National Bank Trust Division’s holdings in Southern were worth $1,296,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Southern in the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. Scarborough Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Southern in the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its stake in shares of Southern by 62.0% during the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 444 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 170 shares in the last quarter. BKM Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, Valley National Advisers Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Southern by 63.9% during the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 526 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 205 shares in the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on SO shares. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $80.00 price target on shares of Southern in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Barclays lifted their price target on Southern from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Mizuho raised their price objective on Southern from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Scotiabank lowered their price objective on Southern from $80.00 to $77.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, UBS Group downgraded Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $78.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Southern has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $76.36.

Southern Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of Southern stock opened at $77.94 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.92. The Southern Company has a 52 week low of $61.56 and a 52 week high of $80.84. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $76.35 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $71.93. The stock has a market capitalization of $85.22 billion, a PE ratio of 20.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.51.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The utilities provider reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.13. Southern had a return on equity of 12.07% and a net margin of 16.74%. The firm had revenue of $6.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.59 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.79 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 3.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 6th. Investors of record on Monday, May 20th were given a dividend of $0.72 per share. This is a boost from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 17th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.70%. Southern’s payout ratio is presently 74.42%.

Insider Activity at Southern

In related news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 9,126 shares of Southern stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.04, for a total transaction of $684,815.04. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 121,504 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,117,660.16. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Southern Company Profile

The Southern Company, through its subsidiaries, engages in the generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity. The company also develops, constructs, acquires, owns, and manages power generation assets, including renewable energy projects and sells electricity in the wholesale market; and distributes natural gas in Illinois, Georgia, Virginia, and Tennessee, as well as provides gas marketing services, gas distribution operations, and gas pipeline investments operations.