Southern Company (The) $SO Shares Sold by Bollard Group LLC

Bollard Group LLC cut its holdings in shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 28.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 322,040 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 128,581 shares during the period. Southern accounts for approximately 0.7% of Bollard Group LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th biggest holding. Bollard Group LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $28,082,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Aigen Investment Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter worth $1,328,000. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Southern by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 391,245 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $34,117,000 after purchasing an additional 9,895 shares in the last quarter. Jacobi Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Southern by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Jacobi Capital Management LLC now owns 28,880 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,518,000 after purchasing an additional 139 shares in the last quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of Southern by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 24,620 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,147,000 after purchasing an additional 1,055 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kestra Advisory Services LLC increased its position in shares of Southern by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC now owns 341,749 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $29,800,000 after purchasing an additional 5,169 shares in the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SO has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. KeyCorp raised Southern from an “underweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. Evercore raised Southern from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $111.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Southern in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $102.00 price target on shares of Southern in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Finally, TD Cowen upped their target price on Southern from $108.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 6th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $99.38.

Southern Price Performance

NYSE SO opened at $93.90 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.45. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $93.95 and its 200 day moving average price is $91.95. Southern Company has a 1 year low of $83.80 and a 1 year high of $100.83. The company has a market cap of $105.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.89, a PEG ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.34.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The utilities provider reported $1.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $8.40 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.07 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.23 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Southern Company will post 4.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Increases Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In other Southern news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.67, for a total transaction of $2,416,750.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 103,602 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,015,205.34. This trade represents a 19.44% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Christopher Cummiskey sold 6,669 shares of the 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 sale, the executive vice president directly owned 30,800 shares in the company, valued at $2,973,740. This represents a 17.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Southern Company 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.