The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Position Lessened by Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp

Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp reduced its stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 2.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 8,235 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 200 shares during the quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp’s holdings in Southern were worth $591,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. Scarborough Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its stake in shares of Southern by 62.0% in the 1st quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 444 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 170 shares during the period. BKM Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Finally, Valley National Advisers Inc. increased its stake in shares of Southern by 63.9% during the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 526 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 205 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on SO shares. UBS Group cut Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $78.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Scotiabank lowered their target price on Southern from $80.00 to $77.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Southern from $74.00 to $71.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Southern from $73.00 to $79.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Finally, Argus boosted their target price on shares of Southern from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Southern has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $76.14.

Insider Activity

In other 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 121,504 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,117,660.16. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Southern Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of Southern stock traded down $0.47 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $77.57. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 6,205,882 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,658,785. The Southern Company has a 1-year low of $61.56 and a 1-year high of $80.84. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $84.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.04, a PEG ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.51. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $77.58 and a 200-day simple moving average of $72.26.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The utilities provider reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $6.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.59 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.07% and a net margin of 16.74%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.79 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Increases Dividend

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

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.