Plato Investment Management Ltd Trims Stock Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Plato Investment Management Ltd trimmed its stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 7.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,358 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 264 shares during the period. Plato Investment Management Ltd’s holdings in Southern were worth $260,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. WINTON GROUP Ltd purchased a new stake in Southern in the second quarter worth about $1,491,000. Pinion Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Southern by 4.8% in the 2nd quarter. Pinion Investment Advisors LLC now owns 5,895 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $457,000 after purchasing an additional 268 shares during the period. Vista Capital Partners Inc. boosted its position in shares of Southern by 1.4% during the second quarter. Vista Capital Partners Inc. now owns 8,743 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $678,000 after purchasing an additional 118 shares in the last quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Southern by 1.3% in the second quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 27,644 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,144,000 after purchasing an additional 359 shares during the period. Finally, Chronos Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Southern by 0.6% in the second quarter. Chronos Wealth Management LLC now owns 84,426 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,549,000 after purchasing an additional 483 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Southern Trading Up 0.5 %

NYSE:SO opened at $89.90 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $85.38 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $78.35. The company has a market cap of $98.30 billion, a PE ratio of 23.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66. The Southern Company has a 12 month low of $61.56 and a 12 month high of $90.34.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.10 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $6.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.10 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.88% and a net margin of 17.67%. Southern’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.79 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Investors of record on Monday, August 19th were given a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 19th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.20%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 74.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In other news, EVP Sloane N. Drake sold 12,000 shares of Southern stock in a transaction 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 approximately $1,301,597.31. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Sloane N. Drake sold 12,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.61, for a total value of $931,320.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 16,771 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,301,597.31. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.54, for a total transaction of $587,830.10. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,467 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,981,575.18. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 27,845 shares of company stock valued at $2,266,455. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on SO shares. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Southern from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Southern from $87.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Southern from $72.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Wolfe Research lowered Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their target price on Southern from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $84.71.

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.