SG Trading Solutions LLC Takes $471,000 Position in Southern Company (The) $SO

SG Trading Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SOFree Report) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 5,396 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $471,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of SO. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Southern by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 108,057,413 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $9,422,606,000 after buying an additional 1,643,090 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its position 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 acquiring an additional 7,593,224 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in shares of Southern by 18.7% during 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 period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in 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 bought a new position in Southern in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,111,450,000. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Southern Trading Up 0.1%

SO opened at $93.23 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $93.58 and its two-hundred day moving average is $92.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.65. The firm has a market cap of $105.09 billion, a PE ratio of 23.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.34. Southern Company has a twelve month low of $83.80 and a twelve month high of $100.83.

Southern (NYSE:SOGet Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The utilities provider reported $1.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.21 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $8.40 billion during 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.23 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate 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%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In other news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 25,000 shares of Southern stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.67, for a total transaction of $2,416,750.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 103,602 shares in the company, valued at $10,015,205.34. The trade was a 19.44% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.16% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on SO. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on Southern from $108.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 6th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $102.00 price target on shares of Southern in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Evercore raised shares of Southern from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $111.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Seaport Research Partners lowered shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, April 20th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Southern in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $99.32.

View Our Latest Stock Analysis on Southern

Southern Profile

(Free Report)

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.

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Institutional Ownership by Quarter for Southern (NYSE:SO)

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