Park Place Capital Corp Has $616,000 Holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Park Place Capital Corp lessened its position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 20.7% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm 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 quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. acquired a new stake in Southern during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $16,067,000. Intech Investment Management LLC increased its position in 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 period. Summit Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Southern during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $1,288,000. Nwam LLC increased its position in 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 period. Finally, Angeles Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Southern by 13.3% during the 4th quarter. Angeles Investment Advisors LLC now owns 5,202 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $365,000 after buying an additional 612 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of Southern stock traded up $1.01 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $88.58. 7,196,642 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,794,487. The Southern Company has a 12-month low of $61.56 and a 12-month high of $89.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $96.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.89, a PEG ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $79.73 and a 200-day simple moving average of $74.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.65.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $6.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.10 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.79 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 12.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 4.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 19th will be given a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.25%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 19th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is presently 74.42%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SO has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Southern from $74.00 to $71.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 24th. Scotiabank increased their price target on Southern from $77.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Barclays increased their price target on Southern from $66.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Southern from $77.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Argus increased their target price on Southern from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Southern has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $80.33.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Sloane N. Drake sold 12,000 shares of Southern 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 16,771 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,301,597.31. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Sloane N. Drake sold 12,000 shares of Southern 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 16,771 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,301,597.31. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Anthony L. Wilson sold 6,900 shares of Southern stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.61, for a total value of $535,509.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 85,309 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,620,831.49. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.