Charles Schwab Trust Co Makes New Investment in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Charles Schwab Trust Co purchased a new position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 6,007 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $431,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Austin Private Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Southern by 24.5% during the 1st quarter. Austin Private Wealth LLC now owns 3,991 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $283,000 after purchasing an additional 786 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Planning Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Southern by 20.9% during the 1st quarter. Strategic Planning Group LLC now owns 17,517 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,257,000 after purchasing an additional 3,032 shares in the last quarter. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Southern by 3,628.6% in the 1st quarter. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 522 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 508 shares in the last quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in Southern in the 1st quarter valued at $3,096,000. Finally, Northwest Investment Counselors LLC acquired a new stake in Southern in the 1st quarter valued at $65,000. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Southern

In related news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 9,126 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.04, for a total value of $684,815.04. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 121,504 shares in the company, valued at $9,117,660.16. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Southern Trading Down 1.7 %

SO stock opened at $78.02 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $85.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.16, a PEG ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.51. The Southern Company has a twelve month low of $61.56 and a twelve month high of $80.84. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67. The business has a fifty day moving average of $77.16 and a 200-day moving average of $72.14.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The utilities provider reported $1.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $6.65 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.59 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.07% and a net margin of 16.74%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.79 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 3.99 EPS for the current year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 6th. Investors of record on Monday, May 20th were issued a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 17th. This is an increase from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is currently 74.42%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on SO. Mizuho boosted their price target on Southern from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. UBS Group lowered Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $78.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $76.00 price target (up previously from $72.00) on shares of Southern in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Southern from $74.00 to $71.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Finally, Scotiabank cut their price objective on Southern from $80.00 to $77.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $76.14.

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.