The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Shares Purchased by Sagefield Capital LP

Sagefield Capital LP boosted its position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 13.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 132,820 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 15,527 shares during the quarter. Southern accounts for 1.2% of Sagefield Capital LP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th biggest position. Sagefield Capital LP’s holdings in Southern were worth $10,934,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SO. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Southern by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 102,790,453 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $8,461,710,000 after acquiring an additional 698,422 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Southern by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 25,050,209 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,056,441,000 after purchasing an additional 528,870 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in Southern by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 10,805,269 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $889,490,000 after purchasing an additional 460,594 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter valued at $848,019,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Southern by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,599,710 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $543,288,000 after acquiring an additional 194,114 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Southern news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the firm’s 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,148,284.90. This trade represents a 1.09% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of Southern stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.12, for a total value of $2,997,532.80. Following the transaction, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SO has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Southern from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $94.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. KeyCorp cut shares of Southern from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $78.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Guggenheim reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $93.00 price target on shares of Southern in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of Southern from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $92.21.

Southern Price Performance

Shares of SO stock opened at $88.72 on Friday. 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 fifty-two week low of $76.64 and a fifty-two week high of $94.45. The firm has a market cap of $97.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.12, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.40. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $89.90 and its 200-day moving average price is $87.18.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its quarterly 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 firm had revenue of $7.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.17 billion. Southern had a net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 12.23%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.03 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Increases Dividend

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