Southern Company (The) $SO Shares Purchased by Hsbc Holdings PLC

Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its holdings in shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 5.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,848,710 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 103,518 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC owned about 0.17% of Southern worth $161,249,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ankerstar Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Triumph Capital Management purchased a new position in Southern in the third quarter valued at $29,000. Cornerstone Financial Management LLC purchased a new position in Southern in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp purchased a new position in Southern in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Finally, Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. acquired a new position in Southern during the 4th quarter worth $31,000. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Southern

In related 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 directly owned 103,602 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,015,205.34. This represents a 19.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.16% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Southern Stock Up 0.1%

Southern stock opened at $93.23 on Friday. Southern Company has a 1-year low of $83.80 and a 1-year high of $100.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.45. The stock has a market cap of $105.09 billion, a PE ratio of 23.72, a P/E/G ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.34. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $93.58 and its two-hundred day moving average is $92.07.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The utilities provider reported $1.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.21 by $0.11. Southern had a return on equity of 12.64% and a net margin of 14.46%.The company had revenue of $8.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.07 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.23 EPS. Southern’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Southern Company will post 4.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 8th. Investors of record on Monday, May 18th were paid a dividend of $0.76 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 18th. This is a positive change from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.3%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 77.35%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on SO. Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and set a $104.00 price target on shares of Southern in a report on Friday, May 1st. Barclays decreased their price objective on Southern from $99.00 to $98.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Evercore upgraded shares of Southern from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $111.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and issued a $87.00 target price on shares of Southern in a report on Thursday, May 21st. Finally, Truist Financial decreased their price target on shares of Southern from $103.00 to $100.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $99.32.

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.