Southern Company (The) $SO Shares Sold by SG Americas Securities LLC

Key Points

• SG Americas Securities LLC reduced its Southern Company stake by 7.3% in the first quarter, selling 22,697 shares and leaving it with 288,378 shares valued at about $27.8 million.
• Southern beat earnings expectations in its latest quarter, reporting EPS of $1.32 versus the $1.21 consensus and revenue of $8.40 billion, up 8% year over year.
• The company also raised its quarterly dividend to $0.76 per share from $0.74, implying an annualized dividend of $3.04 and a yield of 3.2%.

SG Americas Securities LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 7.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 288,378 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 22,697 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC's holdings in Southern were worth $27,834,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Southern by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 108,057,413 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $9,422,606,000 after purchasing an additional 1,643,090 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its position in Southern by 22.6% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 41,142,076 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $3,587,589,000 after buying an additional 7,593,224 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in Southern by 18.7% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 34,459,462 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $3,004,866,000 after buying an additional 5,436,212 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Southern by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 27,259,125 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $2,381,344,000 after buying an additional 384,860 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,111,450,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SO has been the topic of several research analyst reports. KeyCorp raised Southern from an "underweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on Southern from $108.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, March 6th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "underweight" rating and set a $89.00 price objective on shares of Southern in a report on Wednesday. Citigroup reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Southern in a research report on Friday, April 10th. Finally, Seaport Research Partners cut Southern from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Southern presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $99.26.

Southern Stock Up 0.9%

SO stock opened at $95.77 on Thursday. 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 company's 50 day simple moving average is $93.44 and its 200-day simple moving average is $92.23. Southern Company has a 12 month low of $83.80 and a 12 month high of $100.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $107.96 billion, a PE ratio of 24.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.34.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The utilities provider reported $1.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.07 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.23 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Southern Company will post 4.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 18th were issued a $0.76 dividend. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.2%. This is a positive change from Southern's previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 18th. Southern's payout ratio is presently 77.35%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 25,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.67, for a total value of $2,416,750.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 103,602 shares in the company, valued at $10,015,205.34. This represents a 19.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.16% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.

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