Toronto Dominion Bank Has $32.10 Million Stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Toronto Dominion Bank reduced its holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 19.3% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 389,888 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 93,432 shares during the quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank’s holdings in Southern were worth $32,095,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SO. Sagefield Capital LP raised its stake in shares of Southern by 13.2% during the 4th quarter. Sagefield Capital LP now owns 132,820 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $10,934,000 after purchasing an additional 15,527 shares in the last quarter. Second Line Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Southern by 12.7% in the fourth quarter. Second Line Capital LLC now owns 11,973 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $986,000 after buying an additional 1,348 shares in the last quarter. Shell Asset Management Co. increased its holdings in Southern by 52.1% during the fourth quarter. Shell Asset Management Co. now owns 8,366 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $689,000 after buying an additional 2,865 shares during the last quarter. Sherbrooke Park Advisers LLC raised its position in Southern by 158.2% during the fourth quarter. Sherbrooke Park Advisers LLC now owns 15,398 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,268,000 after acquiring an additional 9,434 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raiffeisen Bank International AG acquired a new stake in Southern in the fourth quarter valued at $171,000. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Southern Trading Up 1.5%

SO stock opened at $88.72 on Monday. The Southern Company has a 52 week low of $76.64 and a 52 week high of $94.45. The company has a market capitalization of $97.50 billion, a PE ratio of 22.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.40. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $89.90 and its 200 day simple moving average is $87.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.67.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.03. Southern had a net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 12.23%. The firm had revenue of $7.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.17 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.03 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be issued a $0.74 dividend. This is a boost from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.34%. Southern’s payout ratio is currently 70.64%.

Insider Activity

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on SO shares. KeyCorp cut shares of Southern from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $78.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Southern from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $94.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Morgan Stanley restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Southern in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price target on Southern from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Southern has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $92.21.

Southern Company 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.