Posted by admin on Aug 24th, 2022 
Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO – Get Rating) during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 22,768 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $314,000.
A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. BlackRock Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Southern by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 73,889,061 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,067,311,000 after buying an additional 539,395 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Southern by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 52,509,811 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,601,123,000 after purchasing an additional 432,976 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Southern by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,564,622 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,133,435,000 after purchasing an additional 480,757 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its stake in Southern by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 11,938,813 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $818,764,000 after purchasing an additional 102,121 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in Southern by 4.9% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,398,744 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $438,824,000 after purchasing an additional 301,690 shares in the last quarter. 60.58% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
SO has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on shares of Southern from $81.00 to $70.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, June 22nd. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Southern from $63.00 to $69.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Guggenheim raised their price objective on shares of Southern from $76.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 21st. Seaport Res Ptn restated a “buy” rating on shares of Southern in a research report on Thursday, June 30th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded shares of Southern from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $76.00 to $87.00 in a research report on Thursday, August 4th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Southern currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $74.64.
SO stock opened at $78.79 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.55, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.85. The Southern Company has a 52 week low of $60.99 and a 52 week high of $80.57. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $73.39 and its 200 day moving average is $72.11. The firm has a market cap of $83.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.74, a P/E/G ratio of 5.56 and a beta of 0.50.
Southern (NYSE:SO – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 28th. The utilities provider reported $1.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84 by $0.23. The business had revenue of $7.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.31 billion. Southern had a net margin of 12.13% and a return on equity of 12.09%. The company’s revenue was up 38.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.84 EPS. Research analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 3.61 earnings per share for the current year.
The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 15th will be issued a $0.68 dividend. This represents a $2.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.45%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 12th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 95.77%.
In other Southern news, EVP James Y. Kerr II sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.00, for a total value of $1,900,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 136,987 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,411,012. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, EVP James Y. Kerr II sold 25,000 shares of Southern stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.00, for a total transaction of $1,900,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 136,987 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,411,012. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Stephen E. Kuczynski sold 14,500 shares of Southern stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.92, for a total transaction of $1,057,340.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 115,284 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,406,509.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 54,000 shares of company stock valued at $4,002,500 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.37% of the company’s stock.
(Get Rating)
The Southern Company, through its subsidiaries, engages in the generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity. It operates through Gas Distribution Operations, Gas Pipeline Investments, Wholesale Gas Services, and Gas Marketing Services segments. 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, wholesale gas services, and gas pipeline investments operations.
Want to see what other hedge funds are holding SO? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for The Southern Company (NYSE:SO – Get Rating).
Receive News & Ratings for Southern Daily – Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts’ ratings for Southern and related companies with MarketBeat.com’s FREE daily email newsletter.
Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC Purchases Shares of 3,699 Orange S.A. (NYSE:ORAN)
Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC Buys Shares of 94,313 Ameriprise Financial, Inc. (NYSE:AMP)
About Author
