Southern Company (The) $SO Shares Newly Bought by R Squared Ltd

R Squared Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm purchased 8,434 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $699,000.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in SO. Optivise Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in Southern by 3.8% in the third quarter. Optivise Advisory Services LLC now owns 3,055 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $253,000 after buying an additional 111 shares during the last quarter. KCM Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Southern by 0.3% in the first quarter. KCM Investment Advisors LLC now owns 34,328 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,313,000 after acquiring an additional 115 shares during the last quarter. Compass Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Southern by 3.7% in the third quarter. Compass Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,265 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $271,000 after acquiring an additional 115 shares during the last quarter. Advisortrust Partners LLC lifted its stake in Southern by 5.0% in the first quarter. Advisortrust Partners LLC now owns 2,601 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $251,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Everhart Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Southern by 3.3% in the second quarter. Everhart Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,003 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $383,000 after acquiring an additional 129 shares in the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SO has been the topic of several analyst reports. Ladenburg Thalmann & Co. Inc. dropped their price target on shares of Southern from $96.50 to $85.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, September 28th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Southern in a report on Tuesday, October 27th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Southern from $85.00 to $84.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 21st. KeyCorp decreased their price objective on shares of Southern from $79.00 to $74.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 13th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on shares of Southern from $103.00 to $101.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 15th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $97.32.

Southern Stock Down 1.6%

SO opened at $92.32 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $88.57 and a 200 day moving average price of $92.58. Southern Company has a twelve month low of $81.69 and a twelve month high of $99.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.55, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.84. The firm has a market cap of $107.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 0.30.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.94 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.71 by $0.23. Southern had a return on equity of 13.57% and a net margin of 16.00%. The company had revenue of $8.84 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.38 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.54 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Southern Company will post 4.65 EPS for the current year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 7th. Investors of record on Monday, November 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.76 per share. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 16th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is currently 69.25%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Sterling Spainhour, Jr. sold 3,333 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.81, for a total value of $306,002.73. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 31,886 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,927,453.66. This trade represents a 9.46% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Southern Profile

Southern Company is an energy holding company based in Atlanta, Georgia. Through its subsidiaries, it generates, transmits and distributes electricity and provides natural gas service, primarily across the southeastern United States. Its electric utility businesses include Alabama Power, Georgia Power and Mississippi Power, which serve customers in their respective states. Southern Company also owns Southern Power, which develops and operates wholesale power generation assets, and Southern Company Gas, whose businesses distribute natural gas to customers in several states.