Shoker Investment Counsel Inc. Raises Stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Shoker Investment Counsel Inc. lifted its stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 3.5% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 29,381 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 993 shares during the quarter. Shoker Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $2,419,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of SO. abrdn plc lifted its holdings in Southern by 5.5% in the third quarter. abrdn plc now owns 424,733 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $38,328,000 after acquiring an additional 21,998 shares during the last quarter. Diversify Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of Southern by 40.5% in the 3rd quarter. Diversify Advisory Services LLC now owns 11,222 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,045,000 after purchasing an additional 3,237 shares during the last quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Southern by 4.0% during the 3rd quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 11,745 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,059,000 after purchasing an additional 452 shares during the period. Mutual Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Southern by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 28,340 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,653,000 after purchasing an additional 558 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pinnacle Associates Ltd. raised its holdings in Southern by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. now owns 119,564 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $10,782,000 after buying an additional 3,226 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Southern Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE SO opened at $88.47 on Friday. The Southern Company has a 1 year low of $65.99 and a 1 year high of $94.45. The company has a market capitalization of $97.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.53. 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 has a 50-day moving average of $84.25 and a two-hundred day moving average of $86.88.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by ($0.01). Southern had a net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 12.23%. The business had revenue of $6.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.90 billion. On average, analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be issued a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.26%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is presently 71.82%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.90, for a total value of $100,503.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 88,393 shares in the company, valued at $7,592,958.70. The trade was a 1.31 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.00, for a total transaction of $1,250,440.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 13,236 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,138,296. This trade represents a 52.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SO has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Guggenheim cut shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Scotiabank boosted their target price on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price objective on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $90.54.

Southern Company 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.