Norris Perne & French LLP MI Boosts Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Norris Perne & French LLP MI raised its position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 2.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 393,082 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,481 shares during the quarter. Southern accounts for about 2.0% of Norris Perne & French LLP MI’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest holding. Norris Perne & French LLP MI’s holdings in Southern were worth $28,200,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Southern by 0.4% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 99,572,665 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,444,343,000 after purchasing an additional 352,023 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in Southern by 53.2% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 16,444,163 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,153,065,000 after buying an additional 5,707,845 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in Southern by 3.7% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 9,811,307 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $634,988,000 after buying an additional 349,122 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Southern in the fourth quarter valued at $631,068,000. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its stake in Southern by 38.5% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,547,188 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $488,461,000 after buying an additional 2,096,988 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have issued reports on SO. Bank of America raised their target price on Southern from $73.00 to $79.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Argus raised their target price on Southern from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 15th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Southern from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Scotiabank cut their price objective on shares of Southern from $80.00 to $77.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, UBS Group cut shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $78.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $76.14.

Southern Trading Down 0.6 %

SO traded down $0.47 during trading on Friday, reaching $77.57. The company had a trading volume of 6,226,973 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,873,369. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $77.58 and its 200 day simple moving average is $72.26. The company has a market cap of $84.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.04, a PEG ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.51. The Southern Company has a 12-month low of $61.56 and a 12-month high of $80.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.92.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The utilities provider reported $1.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $6.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.59 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.07% and a net margin of 16.74%. Southern’s revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.79 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 4 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 6th. Investors of record on Monday, May 20th were paid a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 17th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.71%. This is a boost from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 74.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In other Southern news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 9,126 shares of Southern stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.04, for a total transaction of $684,815.04. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 121,504 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,117,660.16. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.