Oak Thistle LLC Buys Shares of 4,085 Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO)

Key Points

• Oak Thistle LLC has bought 4,085 shares of Southern Company (NYSE:SO), which are valued at approximately $376,000, according to its recent 13F filing.
• Southern Company reported $1.23 earnings per share for the last quarter, exceeding expectations, along with a revenue of $7.78 billion, which was higher than the expected $7.17 billion.
• The company recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.74 per share, with an annualized yield of 3.10%, payable on September 8th.

Oak Thistle LLC purchased 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 (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 4,085 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $376,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter worth $848,019,000. 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 worth $355,864,000 after purchasing an additional 3,307,527 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in Southern by 11,230.1% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,954,213 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $179,690,000 after purchasing an additional 1,936,965 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its position in shares of Southern by 562.9% during the 4th 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 during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its position in shares of Southern by 23.2% during 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 worth $428,794,000 after buying an additional 979,756 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Southern

In other news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 13,158 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 21st. The stock was 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 represents a 12.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Southern Stock Performance

NYSE:SO traded up $0.73 on Tuesday, hitting $95.03. The stock had a trading volume of 1,083,327 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,092,398. The stock has a market cap of $104.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $90.97 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $89.15. Southern Company has a 52-week low of $80.46 and a 52-week high of $96.44.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.23 earnings per share 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 the consensus estimate of $7.17 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.03 earnings per share. Southern's quarterly revenue was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 18th will be issued 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 dividend yield of 3.11%. Southern's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 70.64%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SO has been the subject of several research reports. Evercore ISI lifted their price target 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target 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. KeyCorp cut shares of Southern from a "sector weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and set a $78.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Southern from $98.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Southern from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and reduced their price target for the company from $102.00 to $100.00 in a report on Thursday, June 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Southern presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $93.53.

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.