Hobbs Group Advisors LLC Makes New Investment in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Hobbs Group Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 1,553 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $120,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SO. 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 acquiring an additional 481,071 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its stake in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter worth approximately $631,068,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of Southern by 36.0% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,529,052 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $247,457,000 after acquiring an additional 934,447 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Southern Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of Southern stock traded down $0.14 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $86.80. 3,576,159 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,463,184. The firm has a market capitalization of $94.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66. The company has a fifty day moving average of $81.53 and a 200-day moving average of $75.45. The Southern Company has a 52-week low of $61.56 and a 52-week high of $89.68.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.10 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.19. The business had revenue of $6.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.10 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.88% and a net margin of 17.67%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.79 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 19th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.32%. Southern’s payout ratio is 74.42%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on SO shares. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Southern from $87.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Barclays upped their target price on Southern from $66.00 to $71.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Scotiabank upped their target price on Southern from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Argus upped their target price on Southern from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 15th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Southern from $83.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $82.64.

Insider Activity at Southern

In related news, CEO Anthony L. Wilson sold 6,900 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 85,309 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,620,831.49. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Sloane N. Drake sold 12,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.61, for a total transaction of $931,320.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,771 shares in the company, valued at $1,301,597.31. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 85,309 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,620,831.49. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 21,280 shares of company stock worth $1,678,625. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.