Richardson Financial Services Inc. Boosts Stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Richardson Financial Services Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 35.6% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 751 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 197 shares during the quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $58,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of SO. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Southern by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 100,089,634 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $7,180,430,000 after acquiring an additional 481,071 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its stake in Southern by 45.9% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 23,994,733 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,721,382,000 after purchasing an additional 7,550,570 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in Southern by 36.0% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,529,052 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $247,457,000 after buying an additional 934,447 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates raised its stake in Southern by 21.3% during the second quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 2,572,230 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $199,528,000 after buying an additional 452,075 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Southern by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,542,113 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $197,192,000 after buying an additional 51,751 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SO has been the topic of several research reports. Mizuho lowered Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $90.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Monday. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Scotiabank lifted their price target on shares of Southern from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Southern from $66.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Southern from $87.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Southern presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $84.71.

Southern Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of SO stock opened at $88.87 on Friday. The Southern Company has a 1 year low of $61.56 and a 1 year high of $90.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $97.17 billion, a PE ratio of 22.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 0.52. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $86.01 and a two-hundred day moving average of $78.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.91.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.19. Southern had a net margin of 17.67% and a return on equity of 12.88%. The firm had revenue of $6.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.10 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.79 EPS. Southern’s revenue was up 12.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.01 EPS for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Investors of record on Monday, August 19th were issued a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 19th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.24%. Southern’s payout ratio is 74.42%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of Southern stock in a transaction on Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.54, for a total transaction of $587,830.10. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,467 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,981,575.18. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.54, for a total transaction of $587,830.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 44,467 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,981,575.18. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Sloane N. Drake sold 12,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.61, for a total transaction of $931,320.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 16,771 shares in the company, valued at $1,301,597.31. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 27,845 shares of company stock worth $2,266,455 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Southern 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.