King Luther Capital Management Corp Has $9.48 Million Stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

King Luther Capital Management Corp raised its position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 27.3% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 105,153 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 22,553 shares during the period. King Luther Capital Management Corp’s holdings in Southern were worth $9,483,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Southern by 1,361.6% during the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 3,201 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $229,000 after purchasing an additional 2,982 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its position in Southern by 241.7% in the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 44,240 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,173,000 after acquiring an additional 31,292 shares during the period. Pitcairn Co. raised its stake in Southern by 23.1% during the first quarter. Pitcairn Co. now owns 4,695 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $337,000 after acquiring an additional 881 shares in the last quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 16.2% during the first quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 17,942 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,287,000 after acquiring an additional 2,508 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors grew its holdings in shares of Southern by 35.0% in the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 1,929,980 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $138,457,000 after purchasing an additional 500,000 shares during the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on SO shares. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Southern from $77.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Southern from $78.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Southern from $80.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Guggenheim increased their price objective on shares of Southern from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Southern from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $89.27.

Insider Activity at Southern

In other Southern news, CEO James Y. Kerr II sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, October 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.64, for a total transaction of $2,689,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 145,088 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,005,688.32. This represents a 17.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.54, for a total value of $587,830.10. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 44,467 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,981,575.18. The trade was a 12.86 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Southern Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:SO opened at $88.14 on Friday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $89.77 and its 200 day simple moving average is $84.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.66. The Southern Company has a 1 year low of $65.80 and a 1 year high of $94.45. The company has a market capitalization of $96.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.50, a P/E/G ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 0.52.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $7.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.14 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.78% and a net margin of 17.87%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.42 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 4.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.27%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 66.98%.

About Southern

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.