Hilltop National Bank Has $2.31 Million Stock Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Hilltop National Bank raised its position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 1.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 28,074 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 526 shares during the quarter. Hilltop National Bank’s holdings in Southern were worth $2,311,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of SO. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC grew its holdings in shares of Southern by 8.9% during the second quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 4,462 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $346,000 after buying an additional 364 shares during the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC raised its stake in shares of Southern by 1.9% in the second quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 2,139,470 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $165,959,000 after purchasing an additional 40,511 shares during the last quarter. Sentry Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Southern in the second quarter valued at approximately $399,000. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. boosted its position in shares of Southern by 0.8% during the second quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 32,228 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,500,000 after buying an additional 269 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Eagle Strategies LLC grew its holdings in Southern by 235.4% during the second quarter. Eagle Strategies LLC now owns 9,395 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $729,000 after buying an additional 6,594 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In other Southern news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.90, for a total transaction of $100,503.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 88,393 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,592,958.70. This represents a 1.31 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on SO. Mizuho lowered Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $90.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Monday, September 16th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Southern in a report on Friday, September 20th. They set a “hold” rating and a $94.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their price target on shares of Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Southern currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $90.14.

Southern Trading Down 1.3 %

SO stock traded down $1.08 during trading on Friday, reaching $81.94. 1,212,124 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,357,830. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $85.36 and a 200-day moving average price of $86.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $89.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.06, a P/E/G ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66. The Southern Company has a 1 year low of $65.80 and a 1 year high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $7.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.14 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.78% and a net margin of 17.87%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.42 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 6th. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th were issued a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 18th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 66.98%.

Southern 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.