Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) Holdings Lifted by Texas Yale Capital Corp.

Texas Yale Capital Corp. lifted its stake in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 1.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 31,470 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the quarter. Texas Yale Capital Corp.’s holdings in Southern were worth $2,894,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Inspire Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Southern by 240.4% in the 1st quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC now owns 9,432 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $867,000 after purchasing an additional 6,661 shares during the period. Resolute Wealth Strategies LLC boosted its position in shares of Southern by 84.3% in the 1st quarter. Resolute Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 4,742 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $436,000 after purchasing an additional 2,169 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its position in shares of Southern by 4.8% in the 1st quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 233,620 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $21,481,000 after purchasing an additional 10,600 shares during the period. Empirical Finance LLC boosted its position in shares of Southern by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 37,529 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,451,000 after purchasing an additional 609 shares during the period. Finally, Motco boosted its position in shares of Southern by 3.8% in the 1st quarter. Motco now owns 5,729 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $527,000 after purchasing an additional 211 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Southern Stock Up 0.5%

SO opened at $95.44 on Friday. Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $80.46 and a fifty-two week high of $96.44. The business has a 50-day moving average of $90.87 and a 200-day moving average of $89.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.65. The company has a market capitalization of $104.89 billion, a PE ratio of 22.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 0.38.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.23 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.17 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.03 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.74 per share. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 18th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 70.64%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In other news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 13,158 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.00, for a total transaction of $1,250,010.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 93,661 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,897,795. This trade represents a 12.32% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.16% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Evercore ISI increased their price target on Southern from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Raymond James Financial initiated coverage on Southern in a research report on Friday, June 13th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $98.00 price target for the company. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Southern from $98.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Southern from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $102.00 to $100.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Southern from $91.00 to $90.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to 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.