Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Boosts Holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System grew its position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 1.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 84,832 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 903 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Southern were worth $5,948,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Private Advisor Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Southern by 16.5% during the fourth quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 101,818 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $7,139,000 after purchasing an additional 14,405 shares during the last quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Southern by 10.0% during the fourth quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC now owns 51,833 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,635,000 after acquiring an additional 4,708 shares during the last quarter. GUNN & Co INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT INC. acquired a new position in shares of Southern in the 4th quarter valued at $1,471,000. Spire Wealth Management raised its position in Southern by 316.4% in the 4th quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 13,445 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $927,000 after purchasing an additional 10,216 shares during the last quarter. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI grew its holdings in shares of Southern by 10.0% during the fourth quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 942,786 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $67,429,000 after buying an additional 85,921 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on SO. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $80.00 target price on shares of Southern in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Southern from $72.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday. Bank of America raised their price objective on Southern from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $76.00 price objective (up from $72.00) on shares of Southern in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Finally, Scotiabank dropped their price target on Southern from $80.00 to $77.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $74.71.

Southern Stock Down 0.5 %

Southern stock traded down $0.37 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $75.48. The stock had a trading volume of 8,062,133 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,777,350. The stock has a market cap of $82.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.50, a P/E/G ratio of 4.75 and a beta of 0.48. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $70.57 and a 200 day moving average price of $69.74. The Southern Company has a 12 month low of $61.56 and a 12 month high of $76.28. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The utilities provider reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $6.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.59 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.07% and a net margin of 16.74%. The business’s revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.79 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 3.99 EPS for the current year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 17th. This is a positive change from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.82%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is 72.35%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 9,126 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.04, for a total transaction of $684,815.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 121,504 shares in the company, valued at $9,117,660.16. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 9,126 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.04, for a total transaction of $684,815.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 121,504 shares in the company, valued at $9,117,660.16. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Christopher Cummiskey sold 899 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.06, for a total value of $60,286.94. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 22,502 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,508,984.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 20,025 shares of company stock valued at $1,424,402. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.