The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Stock Position Decreased by Xponance Inc.

Xponance Inc. decreased its position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 145,850 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 533 shares during the quarter. Xponance Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $11,314,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SO. Gilbert & Cook Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Southern by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 11,202 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $785,000 after purchasing an additional 462 shares in the last quarter. Aveo Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in Southern during the fourth quarter valued at about $233,000. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter worth about $219,000. SCP Investment LP bought a new stake in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter worth about $548,000. Finally, Assetmark Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Southern by 22.0% during the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 18,705 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,312,000 after acquiring an additional 3,367 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Sloane N. Drake sold 12,000 shares of Southern stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.61, for a total transaction of $931,320.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,771 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,301,597.31. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CEO Anthony L. Wilson sold 6,900 shares of Southern stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.61, for a total value of $535,509.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 85,309 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,620,831.49. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Sloane N. Drake sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.61, for a total transaction of $931,320.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,771 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,301,597.31. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 27,845 shares of company stock worth $2,266,455. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Southern Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of SO stock opened at $90.52 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.91. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $86.41 and a 200-day moving average of $79.10. The Southern Company has a 52-week low of $61.56 and a 52-week high of $90.59. The stock has a market cap of $98.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.39, a P/E/G ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 0.52.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $6.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.10 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.88% and a net margin of 17.67%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 12.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.79 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Shareholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.18%. Southern’s payout ratio is presently 74.42%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SO has been the subject of several analyst reports. Scotiabank boosted their target price on Southern from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Southern from $77.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Bank of America raised their price target on Southern from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Southern currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $86.33.

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.