The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Holdings Cut by OLD National Bancorp IN

OLD National Bancorp IN lowered its position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 17.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 15,788 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 3,313 shares during the quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN’s holdings in Southern were worth $1,107,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brendel Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $217,000. Cetera Trust Company N.A acquired a new stake in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $46,000. CWM LLC increased its stake in shares of Southern by 22.1% during the fourth quarter. CWM LLC now owns 153,743 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $10,780,000 after acquiring an additional 27,809 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd increased its stake in shares of Southern by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 133,177 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $9,338,000 after acquiring an additional 3,500 shares during the period. Finally, Signaturefd LLC increased its stake in shares of Southern by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 45,548 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,194,000 after acquiring an additional 375 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Southern from $75.00 to $72.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Scotiabank reduced their target price on shares of Southern from $80.00 to $77.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday. UBS Group cut shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $78.00 to $76.00 in a report on Thursday, April 4th. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and set a $76.00 target price (up from $72.00) on shares of Southern in a report on Monday, April 1st. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on shares of Southern from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Southern has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $74.36.

Southern Trading Up 0.4 %

Southern stock opened at $73.26 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $69.23 and a 200 day moving average price of $69.24. The Southern Company has a 52 week low of $61.56 and a 52 week high of $75.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a current ratio of 0.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $80.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.18, a P/E/G ratio of 4.56 and a beta of 0.49.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 15th. The utilities provider reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.05. Southern had a net margin of 15.79% and a return on equity of 11.40%. The firm had revenue of $6.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.90 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.26 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 14.2% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4 EPS for the current year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 17th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.93%. This is a positive change from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 77.14%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In other Southern news, EVP Christopher Cummiskey sold 899 shares of Southern stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.06, for a total transaction of $60,286.94. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 22,502 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,508,984.12. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, CEO Stephen E. Kuczynski sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.92, for a total transaction of $344,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 126,528 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,720,309.76. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Christopher Cummiskey sold 899 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.06, for a total transaction of $60,286.94. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 22,502 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,508,984.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 10,899 shares of company stock valued at $739,587 in the last quarter. 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.