Capital Investment Advisors LLC Boosts Stock Position in Southern Company (The) $SO

Capital Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 1.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 635,316 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,451 shares during the quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC owned approximately 0.06% of Southern worth $55,400,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Southern by 0.5% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 106,414,323 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $10,084,885,000 after acquiring an additional 510,080 shares during the period. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in Southern by 320.3% in the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 33,548,852 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,179,425,000 after acquiring an additional 25,567,431 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Southern in the second quarter valued at $1,179,715,000. Legal & General Group Plc increased its position in Southern by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 8,532,530 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $808,628,000 after purchasing an additional 285,546 shares during the period. Finally, Soroban Capital Partners LP raised its holdings in Southern by 83.8% in the 2nd quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP now owns 4,097,422 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $376,266,000 after purchasing an additional 1,867,912 shares in the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on SO. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $102.00 target price on shares of Southern in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. Wall Street Zen lowered Southern from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, December 6th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $105.00 price target on shares of Southern in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Evercore upgraded Southern from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $111.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, March 5th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Southern from $91.00 to $88.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $98.08.

Southern Stock Up 0.1%

SO stock opened at $95.51 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $105.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.30, a P/E/G ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.47. Southern Company has a 1-year low of $83.09 and a 1-year high of $100.83. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $93.42 and a 200-day moving average price of $91.83.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 18th. The utilities provider reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.56 by ($0.01). Southern had a return on equity of 12.52% and a net margin of 14.69%.The business had revenue of $6.98 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.41 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.50 earnings per share. Southern’s quarterly revenue was up 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 17th were issued a dividend of $0.74 per share. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 17th. Southern’s payout ratio is currently 75.32%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Christopher Cummiskey sold 6,669 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.55, for a total value of $643,891.95. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 30,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,973,740. This trade represents a 17.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Southern Profile

Southern Company (NYSE: SO) is an Atlanta-based energy holding company that provides electric and gas utility services and owns power generation assets across the United States. Founded in 1945, the company operates a portfolio of regulated electric utilities and affiliated businesses that generate, transmit and distribute electricity to residential, commercial and industrial customers.

Southern’s principal regulated electric subsidiaries include Georgia Power, Alabama Power and Mississippi Power, which serve large portions of the southeastern United States.