Park Place Capital Corp Sells 2,072 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Park Place Capital Corp lessened its stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 20.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,936 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 2,072 shares during the quarter. Park Place Capital Corp’s holdings in Southern were worth $616,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter valued at $16,067,000. Intech Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 382.0% during the 1st quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 41,790 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,998,000 after purchasing an additional 33,120 shares during the last quarter. Summit Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Southern during the 1st quarter valued at $1,288,000. Nwam LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 8.8% during the 1st quarter. Nwam LLC now owns 11,605 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $890,000 after purchasing an additional 937 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Angeles Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in Southern by 13.3% in the 4th quarter. Angeles Investment Advisors LLC now owns 5,202 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $365,000 after acquiring an additional 612 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Southern from $83.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Southern from $87.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Southern from $74.00 to $71.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 24th. Argus raised their target price on Southern from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 15th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on Southern from $66.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $80.33.

Southern Price Performance

SO stock traded up $1.01 during trading on Friday, hitting $88.58. The stock had a trading volume of 7,196,642 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,794,487. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.65. The Southern Company has a twelve month low of $61.56 and a twelve month high of $89.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $96.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.89, a PEG ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 0.51. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $79.73 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $74.07.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.19. Southern had a return on equity of 12.95% and a net margin of 17.67%. The company had revenue of $6.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.10 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.79 EPS. Southern’s revenue was up 12.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 6th. Investors of record on Monday, August 19th will be issued a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 19th. Southern’s payout ratio is 74.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Southern news, EVP Sloane N. Drake sold 12,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.61, for a total value of $931,320.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,771 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,301,597.31. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Southern news, EVP Sloane N. Drake sold 12,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.61, for a total value of $931,320.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,771 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,301,597.31. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Anthony L. Wilson sold 6,900 shares of Southern stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.61, for a total transaction of $535,509.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 85,309 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,620,831.49. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by 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.