First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. Boosts Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. grew its holdings in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 18.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 27,890 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 4,297 shares during the period. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P.’s holdings in Southern were worth $1,956,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. BKM Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Valley National Advisers Inc. boosted its holdings in Southern by 63.9% in the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 526 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 205 shares in the last quarter. CNB Bank boosted its holdings in Southern by 1,021.4% in the third quarter. CNB Bank now owns 628 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 572 shares in the last quarter. Your Advocates Ltd. LLP bought a new stake in Southern in the third quarter worth $42,000. Finally, Cetera Trust Company N.A bought a new stake in Southern in the fourth quarter worth $46,000. 64.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have commented on the company. Bank of America boosted their target price on Southern from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. UBS Group downgraded Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $78.00 to $76.00 in a report on Thursday, April 4th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $76.00 price target (up from $72.00) on shares of Southern in a report on Monday, April 1st. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $80.00 price target on shares of Southern in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Finally, Scotiabank lowered their price target on Southern from $80.00 to $77.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $74.36.

Southern Price Performance

Shares of Southern stock traded up $1.08 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $75.60. 1,101,062 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,688,062. The business has a 50-day moving average of $70.06 and a 200 day moving average of $69.54. The Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $61.56 and a fifty-two week high of $75.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $82.75 billion, a PE ratio of 20.52, a PEG ratio of 4.60 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a quick ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 15th. The utilities provider reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.05. Southern had a return on equity of 11.40% and a net margin of 15.79%. The company had revenue of $6.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.90 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.26 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 14.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 3.99 EPS for the current year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 20th will be paid a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 17th. This is a boost from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.81%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 77.14%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In other news, EVP Christopher Cummiskey sold 899 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.06, for a total transaction of $60,286.94. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 22,502 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,508,984.12. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Christopher Cummiskey sold 899 shares of Southern stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.06, for a total transaction of $60,286.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 22,502 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,508,984.12. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Stephen E. Kuczynski sold 5,000 shares of Southern stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.92, for a total value of $344,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 126,528 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,720,309.76. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 10,899 shares of company stock valued at $739,587. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Southern 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.