SG Americas Securities LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in Southern Company (The) $SO

SG Americas Securities LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 7.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 288,378 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 22,697 shares during the quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $27,834,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Empowered Funds LLC grew its holdings in Southern by 17.5% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 34,003 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,127,000 after buying an additional 5,067 shares during the period. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. now owns 59,217 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,438,000 after acquiring an additional 393 shares during the period. WINTON GROUP Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Southern in the second quarter worth approximately $655,000. Sei Investments Co. grew its holdings in Southern by 11.5% in the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 449,960 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $41,320,000 after purchasing an additional 46,504 shares during the period. Finally, Treasurer of the State of North Carolina grew its holdings in Southern by 2.7% in the second quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 514,736 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $47,268,000 after purchasing an additional 13,392 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Southern Trading Up 0.9%

NYSE SO opened at $95.77 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $107.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.37, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.65. Southern Company has a one year low of $83.80 and a one year high of $100.83. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $93.44 and its 200 day moving average price is $92.23.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The utilities provider reported $1.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.21 by $0.11. Southern had a net margin of 14.46% and a return on equity of 12.64%. The company had revenue of $8.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.07 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.23 earnings per share. Southern’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Southern Company will post 4.58 EPS for the current year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 18th were paid a $0.76 dividend. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.2%. This is an increase from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 18th. Southern’s payout ratio is 77.35%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently commented on SO. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Southern from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, June 20th. KeyCorp raised shares of Southern from an “underweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. Barclays dropped their price objective on Southern from $99.00 to $98.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $104.00 target price on shares of Southern in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group set a $99.00 target price on Southern in a report on Monday. Seven 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 company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $99.26.

Insider Transactions at Southern

In other news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 25,000 shares of Southern stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.67, for a total transaction of $2,416,750.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 103,602 shares in the company, valued at $10,015,205.34. This trade represents a 19.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.16% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Southern

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.