Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI Acquires 7,522 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI boosted its stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 71.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 17,998 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 7,522 shares during the period. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI’s holdings in Southern were worth $1,396,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of SO. Capital International Investors boosted its position in Southern by 45.9% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 23,994,733 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,721,382,000 after acquiring an additional 7,550,570 shares during the last quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Southern in the first quarter valued at $128,413,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Southern by 36.0% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,529,052 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $247,457,000 after buying an additional 934,447 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in Southern by 35.0% during the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 1,929,980 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $138,457,000 after buying an additional 500,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Southern by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 100,089,634 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $7,180,430,000 after buying an additional 481,071 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Southern Stock Performance

SO opened at $89.65 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.66. The company has a market capitalization of $98.03 billion, a PE ratio of 23.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.52. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $85.61 and a 200 day simple moving average of $78.51. The Southern Company has a 1 year low of $61.56 and a 1 year high of $90.34.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.10 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.19. Southern had a net margin of 17.67% and a return on equity of 12.88%. The business had revenue of $6.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.10 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.79 earnings per share. Southern’s revenue was up 12.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.01 EPS for the current year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Investors of record on Monday, August 19th were paid a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.21%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 19th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 74.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Anthony L. Wilson sold 6,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.61, for a total transaction of $535,509.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 85,309 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,620,831.49. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Southern news, CEO Anthony L. Wilson sold 6,900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.61, for a total value of $535,509.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 85,309 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,620,831.49. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.54, for a total transaction of $587,830.10. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,467 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,981,575.18. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 27,845 shares of company stock valued at $2,266,455 over the last 90 days. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on SO. Scotiabank upped their target price on Southern from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Southern from $72.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Southern from $80.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Southern from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on shares of Southern from $66.00 to $71.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Southern presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $84.71.

About Southern

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.