Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management Increases Stock Position in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO)

Key Points

• Empirical Financial Services LLC significantly increased its stake in Southern Company by 530.4% in Q1, bringing its total holdings to 26,200 shares valued at approximately $2.4 million.
• Southern Company reported Q1 earnings of $1.23 per share, exceeding estimates of $1.20 and generating a revenue of $7.78 billion, marking a 17% year-over-year increase.
• The company has declared a quarterly dividend of $0.74 per share, yielding 3.1%, with the ex-dividend date set for August 18th.

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management increased its holdings in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 530.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 26,200 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 22,044 shares during the period. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management's holdings in Southern were worth $2,409,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Marshall Wace LLP grew its stake in Southern by 325.7% during the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 4,322,931 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $355,864,000 after acquiring an additional 3,307,527 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of Southern by 11,230.1% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,954,213 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $179,690,000 after purchasing an additional 1,936,965 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its position in shares of Southern by 562.9% in the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,368,788 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $112,679,000 after buying an additional 1,162,288 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in Southern by 23.2% during the fourth 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 buying an additional 979,756 shares during the period. Finally, Westwood Holdings Group Inc. increased its stake in Southern by 1,747.3% in the 4th quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 896,323 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $73,785,000 after acquiring an additional 847,803 shares during the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Southern Stock Down 0.7%

SO opened at $94.27 on Friday. Southern Company has a 12 month low of $80.46 and a 12 month high of $96.44. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69. The business's 50-day moving average price is $91.27 and its 200-day moving average price is $89.32. The company has a market cap of $103.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.50, a P/E/G ratio of 3.28 and a beta of 0.38.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $7.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.17 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.03 EPS. Southern's revenue for the quarter was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 18th will be issued a $0.74 dividend. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 18th. Southern's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 70.64%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SO has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. KeyCorp lowered Southern from a "sector weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and set a $78.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Raymond James Financial initiated coverage on shares of Southern in a report on Friday, June 13th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $98.00 price target on the stock. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Southern from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $93.53.

Insider Transactions at Southern

In other news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 13,158 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $95.00, for a total transaction of $1,250,010.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 93,661 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,897,795. This represents a 12.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Southern Profile

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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