SouthState Corp Lowers Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

SouthState Corp reduced its position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 3.1% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 30,357 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 960 shares during the period. SouthState Corp’s holdings in Southern were worth $2,738,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of SO. Vista Capital Partners Inc. boosted its position in Southern by 1.4% in the second quarter. Vista Capital Partners Inc. now owns 8,743 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $678,000 after buying an additional 118 shares during the last quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Southern by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. now owns 3,246 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $293,000 after acquiring an additional 119 shares during the last quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Southern by 5.8% in the third quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC now owns 2,201 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $198,000 after acquiring an additional 121 shares during the period. Birchcreek Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Southern by 4.5% during the third quarter. Birchcreek Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,836 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $256,000 after purchasing an additional 121 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Modera Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Southern by 1.4% during the second quarter. Modera Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,048 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $702,000 after purchasing an additional 124 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SO has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Southern from $77.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Southern from $80.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Southern in a report on Friday, September 20th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $94.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Guggenheim lifted their price target on Southern from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Southern currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $89.27.

Southern Stock Performance

NYSE SO opened at $88.05 on Tuesday. The Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $65.80 and a fifty-two week high of $94.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $96.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 0.52. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $89.82 and its two-hundred day moving average is $84.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.91.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $7.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.14 billion. Southern had a net margin of 17.87% and a return on equity of 12.78%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.42 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 4.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be given a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.27%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is currently 66.98%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO James Y. Kerr II sold 30,000 shares of Southern stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.64, for a total value of $2,689,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 145,088 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,005,688.32. This trade represents a 17.13 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 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 owns 44,467 shares in the company, valued at $3,981,575.18. The trade was a 12.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 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.