Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Reduces Stock Holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio reduced its stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 7.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 522,590 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 39,354 shares during the quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio’s holdings in Southern were worth $37,491,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 481,071 shares during the last quarter. 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 period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Southern during the 4th quarter worth $631,068,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Southern by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,089,460 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $426,993,000 after acquiring an additional 111,311 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of Southern by 36.0% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,529,052 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $247,457,000 after buying an additional 934,447 shares in the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SO has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Scotiabank cut their target price on Southern from $80.00 to $77.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Argus boosted their target price on Southern from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 15th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Southern from $74.00 to $71.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 24th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $76.00 target price (up from $72.00) on shares of Southern in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Finally, Bank of America upped their price target on Southern from $73.00 to $79.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $76.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In other Southern news, CEO Anthony L. Wilson sold 6,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.61, for a total value of $535,509.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now 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 at this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 9,126 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.04, for a total value of $684,815.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 121,504 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,117,660.16. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Anthony L. Wilson sold 6,900 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.61, for a total value of $535,509.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 85,309 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,620,831.49. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 28,026 shares of company stock valued at $2,151,644 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE SO traded up $0.95 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $83.12. 1,603,453 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,435,779. The Southern Company has a 1-year low of $61.56 and a 1-year high of $83.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.65. The stock has a market capitalization of $90.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.39, a PEG ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 0.51. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $79.06 and its 200-day moving average price is $73.56.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The utilities provider reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $6.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.59 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.07% and a net margin of 16.74%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.79 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 19th will be issued a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 19th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.46%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 74.42%.

Southern Company 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.