79,215 Shares in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Bought by Norden Group LLC

Norden Group LLC bought a new position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 79,215 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $5,683,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. bought a new stake in Southern in the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Scarborough Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Southern in the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its stake in Southern by 62.0% in the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 444 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 170 shares during the last quarter. BKM Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, Valley National Advisers Inc. raised its stake in shares of Southern by 63.9% during the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 526 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 205 shares during the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SO has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group downgraded shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $78.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Southern from $72.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Southern from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Southern from $73.00 to $79.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $76.00 price target (up from $72.00) on shares of Southern in a research note on Monday, April 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $76.14.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Sloane N. Drake sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.61, for a total transaction of $931,320.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 16,771 shares in the company, valued at $1,301,597.31. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Southern news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 9,126 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.04, for a total value of $684,815.04. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 121,504 shares in the company, valued at $9,117,660.16. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Sloane N. Drake sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.61, for a total transaction of $931,320.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 16,771 shares in the company, valued at $1,301,597.31. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Southern Price Performance

Shares of SO opened at $77.72 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $77.83 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $72.39. The Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $61.56 and a fifty-two week high of $80.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.92. The stock has a market cap of $84.98 billion, a PE ratio of 20.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.51.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The utilities provider reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.13. Southern had a net margin of 16.74% and a return on equity of 12.07%. The firm had revenue of $6.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.59 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.79 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 20th were issued a dividend of $0.72 per share. This is a boost from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 17th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.71%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is presently 74.42%.

About Southern

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.