The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Stake Reduced by Federated Hermes Inc.

Federated Hermes Inc. lowered its holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 0.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,925,477 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 27,186 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. owned about 0.27% of Southern worth $240,825,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Quadrant Capital Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Southern by 7.4% in the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 11,828 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $974,000 after buying an additional 819 shares in the last quarter. Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co grew its holdings in shares of Southern by 40.8% in the 4th quarter. Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co now owns 157,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $12,924,000 after acquiring an additional 45,500 shares during the last quarter. Rahlfs Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter worth $2,494,000. Wedbush Securities Inc. boosted its position in shares of Southern by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc. now owns 21,280 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,752,000 after purchasing an additional 488 shares during the period. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Southern by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,439,594 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $200,827,000 after purchasing an additional 72,370 shares in the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have commented on SO shares. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Southern in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Scotiabank increased their target price on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Guggenheim downgraded Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $91.46.

Southern Price Performance

Shares of SO opened at $89.07 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.67. The firm has a market cap of $97.70 billion, a PE ratio of 22.21, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $88.14 and its 200 day moving average price is $87.33. The Southern Company has a twelve month low of $67.53 and a twelve month high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $6.34 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.90 billion. Southern had a net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 12.23%. As a group, research analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were issued a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is 71.82%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.00, for a total transaction of $1,250,440.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 13,236 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,138,296. The trade was a 52.35 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.12, for a total value of $2,997,532.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 106,819 shares in the company, valued at $9,946,985.28. This trade represents a 23.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 47,855 shares of company stock worth $4,348,784. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.