Czech National Bank Buys 16,467 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Czech National Bank boosted its holdings in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO – Free Report) by 8.6% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). . The institutional investor owned 208,362 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 16,467 shares during the period. Czech National Bank’s holdings in Southern were worth $16,163,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $631,068,000. Capital International Investors grew its position in shares of Southern by 45.9% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 23,994,733 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,721,382,000 after buying an additional 7,550,570 shares in the last quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Southern during the first quarter valued at about $128,413,000. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of Southern by 36.0% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,529,052 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $247,457,000 after acquiring an additional 934,447 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners purchased a new position in shares of Southern in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $56,924,000. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s shares.

Analysts set new price targets

SO has been the subject of several research reports. Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of Southern from $77.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Southern from $77.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Barclays upped their price objective on Southern from $66.00 to $71.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Bank of America boosted their price target on Southern from $73.00 to $79.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Southern from $80.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. The company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $82.00, according to MarketBeat.com.

Get the latest SO report

Southern Stocks 0.3%

Shares of NYSE:SO traded up $0.22 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $87.02. 509,158 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,495,970. The company has a market cap of $95.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.44, a P/E/G ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.51. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $80.59 and its 200-day simple moving average is $74.71. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.91, and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66. Southern Company has a one year low of $61.56 and a one year high of $89.68.

Southern (NYSE:SO – Get Your Free Report ) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $6.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.10 billion. Southern had a net margin of 17.67% and a return on equity of 12.88%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.4% year-over-year. In the same period last year, the company earned $0.79 per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 4.01 EPS for the current 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 given a $0.72 dividend. This represents an annualized dividend of $2.88 and a dividend yield of 3.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 19. Southern’s payout ratio is currently 74.42%.

Insider trading at Southern

In related news, EVP Sterling A. Jr. Spainhour sold 2,380 shares of Southern stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.99, for a total transaction of $211,796.20. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 12,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,112,375. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC’s website. In other news, EVP Sterling A. Jr. Spainhour sold 2,380 shares of Southern stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 12,500 shares in the company, valued at $1,112,375. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed via this link. Also, EVP Sloane N. Drake sold 12,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.61, for a total value of $931,320.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 16,771 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,301,597.31. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 21,280 shares of company stock worth $1,678,625. 0.18% of shares are held by insiders.

About the south

(Free report)

The Southern Company, through its subsidiaries, engages in the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity. The company also develops, builds, 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 providing gas trading services, gas distribution operations and gas pipeline investment operations.

See Also

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