CFO Capital Management LLC Invests $1.12 Million in Southern Company (The) $SO

CFO Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 12,812 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,117,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of SO. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in shares of Southern by 320.3% in the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 33,548,852 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,179,425,000 after purchasing an additional 25,567,431 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,111,450,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in Southern by 18.7% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 34,459,462 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,004,866,000 after buying an additional 5,436,212 shares during the period. Soroban Capital Partners LP raised its stake in Southern by 83.8% in the second quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP now owns 4,097,422 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $376,266,000 after buying an additional 1,867,912 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Southern by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 108,057,413 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $9,422,606,000 after buying an additional 1,643,090 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SO has been the subject of a number of research reports. Evercore raised Southern from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $111.00 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Weiss Ratings raised Southern from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Wells Fargo & Company set a $96.00 price objective on Southern and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 20th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Southern in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Southern from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $99.32.

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of SO stock opened at $93.23 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $105.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.72, a PEG ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.34. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $93.58 and a 200 day moving average price of $92.07. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68. Southern Company has a 12 month low of $83.80 and a 12 month high of $100.83.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The utilities provider reported $1.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.21 by $0.11. Southern had a return on equity of 12.64% and a net margin of 14.46%.The firm had revenue of $8.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.07 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.23 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Southern Company will post 4.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 18th were paid a dividend of $0.76 per share. This is a boost from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 18th. Southern’s payout ratio is currently 77.35%.

Insider Activity at Southern

In other Southern news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.67, for a total value of $2,416,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 103,602 shares in the company, valued at $10,015,205.34. This represents a 19.44% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.