Hardin Capital Partners LLC Buys Shares of 2,271 The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Hardin Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 2,271 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $209,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. grew its position in shares of Southern by 18.6% during the 4th quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 164,265 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $13,522,000 after buying an additional 25,818 shares during the period. OLD National Bancorp IN grew its position in shares of Southern by 6.2% during the 4th quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN now owns 15,239 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,254,000 after buying an additional 893 shares during the period. Cibc World Market Inc. grew its position in shares of Southern by 165.3% during the 4th quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 152,739 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $12,573,000 after buying an additional 95,175 shares during the period. Caprock Group LLC grew its position in shares of Southern by 5.6% during the 4th quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 27,043 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,226,000 after buying an additional 1,442 shares during the period. Finally, Austin Private Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 22.3% in the 4th quarter. Austin Private Wealth LLC now owns 5,339 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $440,000 after purchasing an additional 972 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Southern

In related news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.61, for a total value of $100,811.25. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 102,090 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,148,284.90. The trade was a 1.09% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.12, for a total value of $2,997,532.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 106,819 shares in the company, valued at $9,946,985.28. This represents a 23.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Southern from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. UBS Group increased their target price on Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Southern in a report on Thursday, March 20th. KeyCorp cut Southern from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $78.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Southern from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $94.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $92.21.

Southern Trading Up 1.3%

NYSE SO opened at $89.94 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $98.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.43, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.40. The Southern Company has a one year low of $76.96 and a one year high of $94.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.66. The business’s fifty day moving average is $89.89 and its 200-day moving average is $87.24.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.23 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $7.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.17 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.23% and a net margin of 16.47%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.03 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th will be paid a $0.74 dividend. This is a boost from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.29%. Southern’s payout ratio is currently 70.64%.

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.