Northern Trust Corp Purchases 107,394 Shares of Southern Company (The) $SO

Key Points

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Northern Trust Corp increased its position in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 1.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,912,663 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 107,394 shares during the quarter. Northern Trust Corp owned approximately 0.99% of Southern worth $1,003,419,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. First Trust Advisors LP grew its position in Southern by 20.8% during the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 778,774 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $64,109,000 after purchasing an additional 133,908 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Southern by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,440,982 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $200,943,000 after buying an additional 64,328 shares during the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC increased its position in shares of Southern by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 353,593 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $29,108,000 after acquiring an additional 11,746 shares in the last quarter. Transce3nd LLC bought a new position in Southern in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Finally, Tradition Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Southern by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Tradition Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,788 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $559,000 after purchasing an additional 224 shares during the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Southern news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 13,158 shares of the business's stock in a transaction 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 owned 93,661 shares in the company, valued at $8,897,795. The trade was a 12.32% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.16% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Scotiabank boosted their price target on Southern from $98.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. KeyCorp lowered Southern from a "sector weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and set a $78.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Southern from $98.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, Guggenheim restated a "neutral" rating and set a $93.00 price objective on shares of Southern in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $94.29.

Southern Stock Down 1.3%

SO opened at $92.87 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $102.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.74. The firm's fifty day moving average is $92.58 and its 200 day moving average is $90.31. Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $80.46 and a fifty-two week high of $96.44.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.99 by ($0.08). The business had revenue of $6.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $6.70 billion. Southern had a net margin of 15.10% and a return on equity of 12.09%. Southern's revenue was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.10 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 8th. Investors of record on Monday, August 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.74 per share. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 18th. Southern's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 76.09%.

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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