NewEdge Wealth LLC Raises Position in Southern Company (The) $SO

NewEdge Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 84.7% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 17,634 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,088 shares during the period. NewEdge Wealth LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $1,538,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in shares of Southern by 320.3% in the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 33,548,852 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,179,425,000 after purchasing an additional 25,567,431 shares during the period. Soroban Capital Partners LP grew its stake in Southern by 83.8% in the second quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP now owns 4,097,422 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $376,266,000 after purchasing an additional 1,867,912 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Southern by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 108,057,413 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $9,422,606,000 after purchasing an additional 1,643,090 shares in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its holdings in Southern by 1,518.4% in the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 1,044,101 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $95,880,000 after purchasing an additional 979,587 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. lifted its position in Southern by 790.6% during the second quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 811,737 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $74,542,000 after buying an additional 720,589 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SO has been the topic of a number of research reports. Mizuho set a $105.00 target price on shares of Southern in a report on Friday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Southern from $94.00 to $92.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Southern in a research note on Friday, April 10th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $96.00 price objective on shares of Southern and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, February 20th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Southern from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $99.85.

Southern Trading Down 0.4%

NYSE SO opened at $93.13 on Thursday. Southern Company has a 12 month low of $83.09 and a 12 month high of $100.83. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $95.51 and its 200-day moving average price is $91.81. The stock has a market cap of $104.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.70, a P/E/G ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.36.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $1.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.21 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $8.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.07 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.64% and a net margin of 14.46%.Southern’s quarterly revenue was up 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.23 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Southern Company will post 4.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 18th will be paid a $0.76 dividend. This is a boost from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 18th. Southern’s payout ratio is currently 75.32%.

Insider Activity at Southern

In other news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.67, for a total transaction of $2,416,750.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 103,602 shares in the company, valued at $10,015,205.34. This represents a 19.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Christopher Cummiskey sold 6,669 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.55, for a total transaction of $643,891.95. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 30,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,973,740. This trade represents a 17.80% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

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.