Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund Sells 184,000 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund lowered its stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 37.2% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 310,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 184,000 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund’s holdings in Southern were worth $24,047,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital International Investors boosted its position in shares of Southern by 45.9% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 23,994,733 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,721,382,000 after acquiring an additional 7,550,570 shares during the period. Confluence Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southern in the first quarter valued at approximately $128,413,000. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of Southern by 36.0% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,529,052 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $247,457,000 after acquiring an additional 934,447 shares during the period. 1832 Asset Management L.P. boosted its position in shares of Southern by 2,719.7% in the second quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 872,373 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $67,670,000 after acquiring an additional 841,435 shares during the period. Finally, Wulff Hansen & CO. boosted its position in shares of Southern by 7,657.0% in the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 571,148 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $44,304,000 after acquiring an additional 563,785 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on SO shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Southern from $80.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Scotiabank upped their target price on Southern from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Wolfe Research lowered Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Southern from $83.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on Southern from $66.00 to $71.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Southern presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $88.27.

Southern Price Performance

Shares of SO stock opened at $90.70 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $87.78 and its 200-day moving average is $80.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $99.17 billion, a PE ratio of 23.44, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 0.52. The Southern Company has a 52 week low of $62.26 and a 52 week high of $91.86.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.19. The business had revenue of $6.46 billion for 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%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.79 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Investors of record on Monday, August 19th were issued a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.18%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 19th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is 74.42%.

Insider Activity at Southern

In other Southern news, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.54, for a total transaction of $587,830.10. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 44,467 shares in the company, valued at $3,981,575.18. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Southern news, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.54, for a total transaction of $587,830.10. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 44,467 shares in the company, valued at $3,981,575.18. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Sterling A. Jr. Spainhour sold 2,380 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.99, for a total value of $211,796.20. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 12,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,112,375. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.