DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale Buys 21,743 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale raised its holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 13.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 179,464 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 21,743 shares during the quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale’s holdings in Southern were worth $12,709,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. purchased a new stake in Southern in the fourth quarter worth $16,067,000. Intech Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Southern by 382.0% in the first quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 41,790 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,998,000 after acquiring an additional 33,120 shares in the last quarter. Summit Financial LLC bought a new stake in Southern in the first quarter worth $1,288,000. Nwam LLC boosted its holdings in Southern by 8.8% in the first quarter. Nwam LLC now owns 11,605 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $890,000 after acquiring an additional 937 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Angeles Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Southern by 13.3% in the fourth quarter. Angeles Investment Advisors LLC now owns 5,202 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $365,000 after acquiring an additional 612 shares in the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on SO. Argus upped their price target on Southern from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 15th. Bank of America upped their price objective on Southern from $73.00 to $79.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Southern from $83.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Southern from $87.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Scotiabank upped their price objective on Southern from $77.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Southern presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $80.33.

Southern Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of SO stock traded up $1.01 on Friday, reaching $88.58. 7,196,642 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,794,487. The Southern Company has a 52 week low of $61.56 and a 52 week high of $89.24. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $96.86 billion, a PE ratio of 22.89, a P/E/G ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 0.51. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $79.73 and its 200 day simple moving average is $74.02.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The utilities provider reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.13. Southern had a return on equity of 12.95% and a net margin of 17.67%. The business had revenue of $6.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.59 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.79 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.01 EPS for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 19th will be issued a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 19th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.25%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is presently 74.42%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Sloane N. Drake sold 12,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.61, for a total value of $931,320.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 16,771 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,301,597.31. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, Director The Ernest J. Moniz 2018 Trust 8,948 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 30th. The was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Sloane N. Drake sold 12,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.61, for a total value of $931,320.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,771 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,301,597.31. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company 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.