Hancock Whitney Corp Lowers Stock Holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Hancock Whitney Corp cut its stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 2.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 27,122 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 768 shares during the period. Hancock Whitney Corp’s holdings in Southern were worth $1,946,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in Southern by 11.6% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 26,917 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,887,000 after buying an additional 2,800 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its stake in Southern by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 121,119 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $8,493,000 after buying an additional 4,498 shares in the last quarter. Covenant Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Southern in the fourth quarter valued at $221,000. Veracity Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Southern in the fourth quarter valued at $324,000. Finally, JB Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Southern by 9.3% during the fourth quarter. JB Capital LLC now owns 5,415 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $380,000 after purchasing an additional 462 shares in the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Southern Trading Up 3.5 %

SO traded up $2.93 during trading on Thursday, hitting $86.45. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 4,463,485 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,466,522. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $79.31 and its 200-day moving average price is $73.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.65. The stock has a market cap of $94.53 billion, a PE ratio of 21.86, a PEG ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.51. The Southern Company has a twelve month low of $61.56 and a twelve month high of $86.80.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $6.65 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.79 EPS. On average, analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 19th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.33%. Southern’s payout ratio is 74.42%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on SO. Barclays lifted their target price on Southern from $66.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Southern from $74.00 to $71.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 24th. Scotiabank cut their target price on Southern from $80.00 to $77.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Argus lifted their target price on Southern from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 15th. Finally, UBS Group cut Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $78.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $76.50.

Insider Transactions at Southern

In other news, EVP Sloane N. Drake sold 12,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.61, for a total transaction of $931,320.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,771 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,301,597.31. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Southern news, Director The Ernest J. Moniz 2018 Trust 8,948 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 30th. The was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Sloane N. Drake sold 12,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.61, for a total transaction of $931,320.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,771 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,301,597.31. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 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.