Charles Schwab Trust Co Invests $431,000 in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Charles Schwab Trust Co bought a new stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 6,007 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $431,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Southern by 0.4% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 99,572,665 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $6,444,343,000 after acquiring an additional 352,023 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its position in shares of Southern by 53.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 16,444,163 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,153,065,000 after acquiring an additional 5,707,845 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its position in shares of Southern by 3.7% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 9,811,307 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $634,988,000 after acquiring an additional 349,122 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter worth approximately $631,068,000. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its position in shares of Southern by 38.5% during the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,547,188 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $488,461,000 after acquiring an additional 2,096,988 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Southern Trading Down 1.7 %

Southern stock opened at $78.02 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $85.31 billion, a PE ratio of 20.16, a P/E/G ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.51. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $77.16 and a 200 day moving average price of $72.14. The Southern Company has a 52 week low of $61.56 and a 52 week high of $80.84. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The utilities provider reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $6.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.59 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.07% and a net margin of 16.74%. The firm’s revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.79 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 3.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 20th were issued a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 17th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.69%. This is a boost from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. Southern’s payout ratio is presently 74.42%.

Insider Transactions at Southern

In other news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 9,126 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.04, for a total transaction of $684,815.04. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 121,504 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,117,660.16. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SO has been the topic of a number of research reports. Scotiabank lowered their target price on shares of Southern from $80.00 to $77.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. UBS Group downgraded Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $78.00 to $76.00 in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Bank of America raised their target price on Southern from $73.00 to $79.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 31st. Mizuho raised their target price on Southern from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, Argus lifted their price target on Southern from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $76.14.

About Southern

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.