Old North State Trust LLC Increases Stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Old North State Trust LLC increased its stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 12.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 24,984 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,684 shares during the period. Southern makes up 1.3% of Old North State Trust LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest position. Old North State Trust LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $2,057,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of SO. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC lifted its position in Southern by 21.5% during the fourth quarter. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC now owns 6,763 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $557,000 after buying an additional 1,196 shares in the last quarter. Drive Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Southern by 11.1% in the 4th quarter. Drive Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,456 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $367,000 after purchasing an additional 444 shares in the last quarter. Apexium Financial LP increased its holdings in Southern by 6.7% in the 4th quarter. Apexium Financial LP now owns 4,770 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $393,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV lifted its stake in shares of Southern by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 86,766 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $7,143,000 after purchasing an additional 1,175 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Webster Bank N. A. boosted its position in shares of Southern by 13.8% in the fourth quarter. Webster Bank N. A. now owns 1,462 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $120,000 after buying an additional 177 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on SO shares. Guggenheim reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $93.00 target price on shares of Southern in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Southern from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Morgan Stanley restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Southern in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $92.21.

Insider Activity

In other Southern news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of Southern stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.12, for a total transaction of $2,997,532.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 106,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,946,985.28. The trade was a 23.16% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.61, for a total value of $100,811.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 102,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,148,284.90. The trade was a 1.09% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Southern Trading Up 0.3%

NYSE SO opened at $89.91 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.67. The Southern Company has a one year low of $76.64 and a one year high of $94.45. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $89.87 and a 200-day simple moving average of $87.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $98.82 billion, a PE ratio of 22.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.40.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.23 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $7.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.17 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.23% and a net margin of 16.47%. Southern’s quarterly revenue was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.03 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be paid a $0.74 dividend. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.29%. This is a boost from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 70.64%.

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.