The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Shares Acquired by Caprock Group LLC

Caprock Group LLC grew its position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 19.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 24,386 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,028 shares during the quarter. Caprock Group LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $1,892,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in SO. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Southern by 0.5% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 100,089,634 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $7,180,430,000 after acquiring an additional 481,071 shares during the period. Capital International Investors increased its stake in shares of Southern by 45.9% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 23,994,733 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,721,382,000 after purchasing an additional 7,550,570 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Southern in the 4th quarter worth about $631,068,000. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in Southern by 36.0% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,529,052 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $247,457,000 after purchasing an additional 934,447 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James & Associates increased its position in shares of Southern by 21.3% in the second quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 2,572,230 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $199,528,000 after buying an additional 452,075 shares in the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Southern from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Argus upped their price objective on Southern from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Southern from $83.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Southern from $80.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Finally, Wolfe Research cut Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $83.71.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In other news, EVP Sterling A. Jr. Spainhour sold 2,380 shares of Southern stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.99, for a total value of $211,796.20. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 12,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,112,375. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Sterling A. Jr. Spainhour sold 2,380 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.99, for a total transaction of $211,796.20. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 12,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,112,375. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Sloane N. Drake sold 12,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.61, for a total value of $931,320.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,771 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,301,597.31. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 21,280 shares of company stock worth $1,678,625. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Southern Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SO opened at $88.41 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $96.67 billion, a PE ratio of 22.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.91. The Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $61.56 and a fifty-two week high of $90.34. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $83.99 and its 200-day simple moving average is $77.41.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $6.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.10 billion. Southern had a net margin of 17.67% and a return on equity of 12.88%. Southern’s quarterly revenue was up 12.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.79 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 19th were given a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.26%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 19th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 74.42%.

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.