Banque Cantonale Vaudoise Acquires Shares of 10,272 Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO)

Key Points

• Banque Cantonale Vaudoise acquired 10,272 shares of Southern Company, totaling approximately $945,000, during the first quarter of the year.
• Multiple institutional investors, including Northern Trust Corp and UBS AM, have increased their stakes in Southern Company, reflecting strong institutional interest in the stock.
• Southern Company recently reported a quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of $1.23, exceeding estimates, with revenue increasing by 17.0% year-over-year to $7.78 billion.

Banque Cantonale Vaudoise bought a new position in shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 10,272 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $945,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in SO. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of Southern by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 10,805,269 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $889,490,000 after buying an additional 460,594 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its holdings in Southern by 23.2% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,208,872 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $428,794,000 after acquiring an additional 979,756 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its position in Southern by 325.7% during the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 4,322,931 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $355,864,000 after acquiring an additional 3,307,527 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Southern by 4.1% during the first quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 3,046,293 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $280,107,000 after acquiring an additional 120,816 shares during the period. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Southern by 0.9% in the first quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 2,617,558 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $240,684,000 after purchasing an additional 22,803 shares during the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SO has been the subject of several research reports. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Southern from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Guggenheim restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $93.00 price target on shares of Southern in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. KeyCorp lowered shares of Southern from a "sector weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and set a $78.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Southern from $91.00 to $90.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, June 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $93.53.

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:SO opened at $94.27 on Friday. Southern Company has a 1 year low of $80.46 and a 1 year high of $96.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $103.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.28 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.65. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $91.27 and its 200 day simple moving average is $89.32.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.03. Southern had a return on equity of 12.70% and a net margin of 16.54%. The company had revenue of $7.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.17 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.03 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.74 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 18th. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.1%. Southern's payout ratio is presently 70.64%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 13,158 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $95.00, for a total value of $1,250,010.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 93,661 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,897,795. This trade represents a 12.32% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.16% of the company's stock.

About Southern

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.

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