The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Shares Sold by XML Financial LLC

XML Financial LLC cut its stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 4.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 13,136 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 607 shares during the period. XML Financial LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $1,019,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners acquired a new stake in shares of Southern in the 4th quarter worth approximately $174,000. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter valued at $76,000. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Southern by 15.6% during the fourth quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 27,021 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,895,000 after buying an additional 3,646 shares in the last quarter. abrdn plc raised its position in Southern by 72.6% in the fourth quarter. abrdn plc now owns 448,924 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $31,479,000 after acquiring an additional 188,814 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CRA Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in Southern in the 4th quarter valued at about $210,000. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Southern from $74.00 to $71.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 24th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Southern from $77.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Argus boosted their target price on Southern from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 15th. Wolfe Research cut Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their price objective on Southern from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Southern presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $82.64.

Southern Stock Up 0.9 %

NYSE:SO traded up $0.78 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $87.58. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 4,543,006 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,463,682. The Southern Company has a one year low of $61.56 and a one year high of $89.68. The business’s 50-day moving average is $81.88 and its 200-day moving average is $75.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.66. The company has a market cap of $95.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 0.51.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.10 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.19. The business had revenue of $6.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.10 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.88% and a net margin of 17.67%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.79 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4.01 EPS for the current year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 19th will be given a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 19th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.29%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is 74.42%.

Insider Transactions at Southern

In other Southern news, EVP Sloane N. Drake sold 12,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.61, for a total value of $931,320.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 16,771 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,301,597.31. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, EVP Sloane N. Drake sold 12,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,771 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,301,597.31. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Anthony L. Wilson sold 6,900 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 85,309 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,620,831.49. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 21,280 shares of company stock worth $1,678,625. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About Southern

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.