Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. lifted its position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 7.2% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 72,152 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,847 shares during the quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $5,597,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of SO. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC grew its stake in shares of Southern by 3.7% during the second quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 51,599 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,003,000 after buying an additional 1,844 shares during the last quarter. Private Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in Southern during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $202,000. Eagle Strategies LLC increased its stake in Southern by 235.4% in the 2nd quarter. Eagle Strategies LLC now owns 9,395 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $729,000 after purchasing an additional 6,594 shares during the period. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. lifted its position in Southern by 0.8% in the second quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 32,228 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,500,000 after purchasing an additional 269 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mitchell Sinkler & Starr PA boosted its stake in shares of Southern by 21.2% during the second quarter. Mitchell Sinkler & Starr PA now owns 17,933 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,443,000 after purchasing an additional 3,140 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on SO shares. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Southern from $80.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Southern from $72.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Southern from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Southern has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $83.71.

Southern Price Performance

SO stock opened at $89.44 on Friday. 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 firm has a 50 day moving average price of $85.14 and a 200-day moving average price of $78.11. The Southern Company has a 52-week low of $61.56 and a 52-week high of $90.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $97.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.11, a PEG ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.52.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.19. Southern had a return on equity of 12.88% and a net margin of 17.67%. The business had revenue of $6.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.10 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.79 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 19th were issued a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 19th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.22%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 74.42%.

Insider Transactions at Southern

In related news, CEO Anthony L. Wilson sold 6,900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.61, for a total value of $535,509.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 85,309 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,620,831.49. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Anthony L. Wilson sold 6,900 shares of Southern stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.61, for a total value of $535,509.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 85,309 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,620,831.49. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 6th. The shares were 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 approximately $3,981,575.18. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 27,845 shares of company stock worth $2,266,455. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.