Citizens National Bank Trust Department Purchases 7,716 Shares of Southern Company (The) $SO

Citizens National Bank Trust Department boosted its holdings in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 26.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 37,387 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,716 shares during the quarter. Citizens National Bank Trust Department’s holdings in Southern were worth $3,609,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of SO. Empowered Funds LLC increased its holdings in Southern by 17.5% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 34,003 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,127,000 after buying an additional 5,067 shares in the last quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. lifted its stake in Southern by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. now owns 59,217 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,438,000 after acquiring an additional 393 shares during the period. WINTON GROUP Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Southern during the 2nd quarter valued at about $655,000. Sei Investments Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Southern by 11.5% during the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 449,960 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $41,320,000 after acquiring an additional 46,504 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Treasurer of the State of North Carolina grew its stake in shares of Southern by 2.7% in the second quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 514,736 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $47,268,000 after acquiring an additional 13,392 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SO has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $104.00 target price on shares of Southern in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Truist Financial dropped their price target on Southern from $103.00 to $100.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Barclays cut their price objective on Southern from $99.00 to $98.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Seaport Research Partners cut Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Southern from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, June 20th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Southern presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $99.26.

Southern Stock Up 0.0%

Shares of SO stock opened at $95.62 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $107.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.33, a PEG ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.34. Southern Company has a one year low of $83.80 and a one year high of $100.83. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $94.03 and its 200-day moving average price is $93.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The utilities provider reported $1.32 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.21 by $0.11. Southern had a net margin of 14.46% and a return on equity of 12.64%. The company had revenue of $8.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.07 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.23 EPS. Southern’s quarterly revenue was up 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Southern Company will post 4.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 18th were paid 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 dividend payout ratio is currently 77.35%.

Southern 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.