Capital Advisors Inc. OK Raises Stock Position in Southern Company (The) $SO

Capital Advisors Inc. OK increased its holdings in shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 5.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,000,364 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 49,402 shares during the period. Southern accounts for about 1.4% of Capital Advisors Inc. OK’s holdings, making the stock its 16th biggest holding. Capital Advisors Inc. OK owned approximately 0.09% of Southern worth $87,232,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Southern by 0.5% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 106,414,323 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $10,084,885,000 after purchasing an additional 510,080 shares during the period. Capital World Investors boosted its position in shares of Southern by 320.3% in the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 33,548,852 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,179,425,000 after buying an additional 25,567,431 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc grew its stake in shares of Southern by 3.5% in the third quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 8,532,530 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $808,628,000 after buying an additional 285,546 shares in the last quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP raised its holdings in shares of Southern by 83.8% during the 2nd quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP now owns 4,097,422 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $376,266,000 after buying an additional 1,867,912 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Southern by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 2,904,697 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $275,277,000 after buying an additional 53,641 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Truist Financial set a $103.00 price target on Southern in a report on Friday, February 20th. KeyCorp upgraded shares of Southern from an “underweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $96.00 target price on shares of Southern and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 20th. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Southern from $108.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 6th. Finally, Evercore raised shares of Southern from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $111.00 price target for the company in a report on Thursday, March 5th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $98.08.

Southern Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SO opened at $96.49 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69. Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $83.09 and a fifty-two week high of $100.83. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $93.73 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $91.90. The firm has a market cap of $106.25 billion, a PE ratio of 24.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.44.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The utilities provider reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $6.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.41 billion. Southern had a net margin of 14.69% and a return on equity of 12.52%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.50 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 17th were issued a $0.74 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 17th. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.1%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is currently 75.32%.

Insider Transactions at Southern

In other Southern news, EVP Christopher Cummiskey sold 6,669 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.55, for a total transaction of $643,891.95. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 30,800 shares in the company, valued at $2,973,740. This represents a 17.80% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.16% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Southern Profile

Southern Company (NYSE: SO) is an Atlanta-based energy holding company that provides electric and gas utility services and owns power generation assets across the United States. Founded in 1945, the company operates a portfolio of regulated electric utilities and affiliated businesses that generate, transmit and distribute electricity to residential, commercial and industrial customers.

Southern’s principal regulated electric subsidiaries include Georgia Power, Alabama Power and Mississippi Power, which serve large portions of the southeastern United States.