Texas Bank & Trust Co Takes $888,000 Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Texas Bank & Trust Co purchased a new stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 10,788 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $888,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of SO. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Southern in the 4th quarter valued at about $848,019,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Southern in the 4th quarter valued at about $315,290,000. Marshall Wace LLP grew its stake in Southern by 325.7% in the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 4,322,931 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $355,864,000 after buying an additional 3,307,527 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its stake in Southern by 562.9% in the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,368,788 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $112,679,000 after buying an additional 1,162,288 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Southern by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 102,790,453 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $8,461,710,000 after buying an additional 698,422 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on SO shares. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Southern from $95.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. KeyCorp lowered shares of Southern from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $78.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday. Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Southern from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Guggenheim restated a “neutral” rating and set a $93.00 target price on shares of Southern in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Southern from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $94.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $92.21.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Southern news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.61, for a total value of $100,811.25. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 102,090 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,148,284.90. This trade represents a 1.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Southern Price Performance

SO stock opened at $88.72 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $89.90 and a 200-day moving average price of $87.16. The company has a market capitalization of $97.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.12, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.40. The Southern Company has a 52-week low of $76.64 and a 52-week high of $94.45. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.23 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.03. Southern had a net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 12.23%. The company had revenue of $7.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.17 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.03 earnings per share. Southern’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Southern Increases Dividend

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

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.