Cambient Family Office LLC Takes Position in Southern Company (The) $SO

Cambient Family Office LLC bought a new position in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund bought 8,224 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $717,000.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Southern by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 108,057,413 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $9,422,606,000 after buying an additional 1,643,090 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its holdings in shares of Southern by 22.6% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 41,142,076 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,587,589,000 after buying an additional 7,593,224 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in shares of Southern by 18.7% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 34,459,462 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,004,866,000 after acquiring an additional 5,436,212 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Southern by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 27,259,125 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,381,344,000 after acquiring an additional 384,860 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Southern in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,111,450,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on SO shares. Truist Financial decreased their price target on Southern from $103.00 to $100.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 29th. KeyCorp raised Southern from an “underweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on Southern from $108.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 6th. Mizuho set a $105.00 target price on Southern in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company set a $96.00 target price on Southern and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, February 20th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $99.32.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In related news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.67, for a total value of $2,416,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 103,602 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,015,205.34. The trade was a 19.44% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.16% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Southern Trading Up 0.8%

Shares of NYSE SO opened at $93.23 on Friday. Southern Company has a twelve month low of $83.80 and a twelve month high of $100.83. The stock has a market cap of $105.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.72, a P/E/G ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.34. The company has a quick ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68. The company’s fifty day moving average is $93.65 and its 200-day moving average is $92.06.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The utilities provider reported $1.32 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.21 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $8.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.07 billion. Southern had a net margin of 14.46% and a return on equity of 12.64%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.23 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Southern Company will post 4.58 EPS for the current year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 18th were given a dividend of $0.76 per share. This is an increase from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 18th. Southern’s payout ratio is 77.35%.

Southern Profile

Southern Company (NYSE: SO) is an Atlanta-based energy holding company that provides electric and gas utility services and owns power generation assets across the United States. Founded in 1945, the company operates a portfolio of regulated electric utilities and affiliated businesses that generate, transmit and distribute electricity to residential, commercial and industrial customers.

Southern’s principal regulated electric subsidiaries include Georgia Power, Alabama Power and Mississippi Power, which serve large portions of the southeastern United States.