Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) Shares Acquired by Federated Hermes Inc.

Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its position in shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 4.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,046,293 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 120,816 shares during the quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. owned approximately 0.28% of Southern worth $280,107,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Investors Research Corp raised its stake in Southern by 400.0% in the 1st quarter. Investors Research Corp now owns 270 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. Rossby Financial LCC acquired a new position in shares of Southern during the 1st quarter valued at about $39,000. Elequin Capital LP increased its stake in shares of Southern by 60.6% during the 4th quarter. Elequin Capital LP now owns 498 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 188 shares during the last quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter valued at about $44,000. Finally, Copia Wealth Management acquired a new position in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter valued at about $45,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently commented on SO shares. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Southern from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Southern from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $102.00 to $100.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 5th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Southern from $91.00 to $90.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, June 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Southern from $95.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Southern currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $93.53.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Southern news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 13,158 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.00, for a total value of $1,250,010.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 93,661 shares in the company, valued at $8,897,795. This represents a 12.32% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Southern Stock Down 1.1%

Shares of NYSE:SO opened at $94.30 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.86. Southern Company has a 1 year low of $80.46 and a 1 year high of $96.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $103.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.51, a PEG ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 0.38. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $90.97 and a 200-day simple moving average of $89.15.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.23 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $7.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.17 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.70% and a net margin of 16.54%. Southern’s quarterly revenue was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.03 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 18th will be issued a $0.74 dividend. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.14%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 18th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is presently 70.64%.

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.