First Hawaiian Bank Has $719,000 Stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

First Hawaiian Bank trimmed its stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 1.8% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,266 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 174 shares during the period. First Hawaiian Bank’s holdings in Southern were worth $719,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. bought a new stake in Southern in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Scarborough Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Southern in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its stake in Southern by 62.0% in the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 444 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 170 shares in the last quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. increased its stake in Southern by 63.9% in the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 526 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 205 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Southern by 3,628.6% in the first quarter. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 522 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 508 shares in the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on SO. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Southern from $73.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Southern from $77.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Friday. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Southern from $74.00 to $71.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 24th. Finally, Argus increased their target price on shares of Southern from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $80.33.

Insider Transactions at Southern

In other Southern news, CEO Anthony L. Wilson sold 6,900 shares of Southern stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.61, for a total transaction of $535,509.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 85,309 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,620,831.49. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Southern news, Director The Ernest J. Moniz 2018 Trust 8,948 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 30th. The was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Anthony L. Wilson sold 6,900 shares of Southern stock in a transaction on Friday, July 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.61, for a total transaction of $535,509.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 85,309 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,620,831.49. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Southern Stock Down 2.3 %

SO stock traded down $2.01 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $86.57. 6,373,931 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,525,437. The Southern Company has a 52 week low of $61.56 and a 52 week high of $89.68. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67. The company has a market cap of $94.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.52, a P/E/G ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.51. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $79.73 and its 200-day moving average price is $74.07.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $6.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.10 billion. Southern had a net margin of 17.67% and a return on equity of 12.95%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.79 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The company 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. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 19th. Southern’s payout ratio is 74.42%.

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.