Southern Company (The) $SO Stock Holdings Boosted by Sterling Capital Management LLC

Sterling Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 16.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 599,454 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 82,942 shares during the period. Southern makes up 1.1% of Sterling Capital Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 15th largest position. Sterling Capital Management LLC owned about 0.05% of Southern worth $57,859,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of SO. Ankerstar Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Southern during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Cornerstone Financial Management LLC bought a new stake in Southern in the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp acquired a new stake in Southern in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Triumph Capital Management acquired a new stake in Southern in the 3rd quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 103,602 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,015,205.34. This trade represents a 19.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.16% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SO has been the topic of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “underweight” rating and issued a $89.00 target price on shares of Southern in a report on Wednesday. Mizuho set a $105.00 target price on shares of Southern in a report on Friday, May 1st. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating on shares of Southern in a research report on Friday, April 10th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $99.00 price target on Southern in a report on Monday. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on Southern from $99.00 to $98.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $99.26.

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of SO opened at $97.00 on Friday. Southern Company has a one year low of $83.80 and a one year high of $100.83. The company has a 50-day moving average of $93.49 and a two-hundred day moving average of $92.33. The stock has a market cap of $109.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.68, a PEG ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The utilities provider reported $1.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.21 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $8.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.07 billion. Southern had a net margin of 14.46% and a return on equity of 12.64%. The firm’s revenue was up 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.23 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Southern Company will post 4.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 18th were paid a dividend of $0.76 per share. This is an increase from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 18th. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.1%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 77.35%.

Southern Company 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.