Park Place Capital Corp Cuts Stock Holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Park Place Capital Corp cut its stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 13.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,008 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,502 shares during the period. Park Place Capital Corp’s holdings in Southern were worth $718,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. bought a new position in Southern in the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Scarborough Advisors LLC bought a new position in Southern during the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its position in Southern by 62.0% in the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 444 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 170 shares during the period. BKM Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Southern in the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, Valley National Advisers Inc. grew its position in shares of Southern by 63.9% during the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 526 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 205 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SO has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Southern from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. UBS Group cut Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $78.00 to $76.00 in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Scotiabank reduced their target price on Southern from $80.00 to $77.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Argus increased their price target on shares of Southern from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 15th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Southern from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $76.14.

Southern Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE:SO traded down $0.57 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $77.00. 2,932,886 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,645,003. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $84.19 billion, a PE ratio of 19.90, a P/E/G ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.51. The Southern Company has a one year low of $61.56 and a one year high of $80.84. The business’s 50 day moving average is $77.58 and its two-hundred day moving average is $72.27.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The utilities provider reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $6.65 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.59 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.07% and a net margin of 16.74%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.79 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 20th were paid a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.74%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 17th. This is a boost from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 74.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 9,126 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.04, for a total value of $684,815.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 121,504 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,117,660.16. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.18% of the stock is 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.