Silver Oak Securities Incorporated Sells 5,679 Shares of Southern Company (The) $SO

Silver Oak Securities Incorporated reduced its stake in shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 24.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 17,318 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 5,679 shares during the quarter. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated’s holdings in Southern were worth $1,672,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Empowered Funds LLC increased its position in shares of Southern by 17.5% during the first 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 Southern by 0.7% in the second quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. now owns 59,217 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,438,000 after buying an additional 393 shares during the period. WINTON GROUP Ltd bought a new stake in Southern during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $655,000. Sei Investments Co. grew its holdings in shares of Southern by 11.5% during the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 449,960 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $41,320,000 after acquiring an additional 46,504 shares during the period. Finally, Treasurer of the State of North Carolina grew its holdings in shares of Southern by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 514,736 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $47,268,000 after acquiring an additional 13,392 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Southern news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 103,602 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,015,205.34. This trade represents a 19.44% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Southern Stock Up 0.1%

SO stock opened at $95.86 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $93.44 and a 200 day moving average of $92.30. The firm has a market cap of $108.06 billion, a PE ratio of 24.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.34. Southern Company has a twelve month low of $83.80 and a twelve month high of $100.83. The company has a quick ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68.

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

Southern Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 8th. Investors of record on Monday, May 18th were paid a $0.76 dividend. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 18th. This is a positive change from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 77.35%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on SO shares. TD Cowen raised their target price on Southern from $108.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 6th. Seaport Research Partners downgraded Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, April 20th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Southern from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, June 20th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $99.00 target price on shares of Southern in a research report on Monday. Finally, KeyCorp upgraded shares of Southern from an “underweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Southern currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $99.26.

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.