The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Shares Purchased by Abel Hall LLC

Abel Hall LLC grew its stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 1.8% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 6,830 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the period. Abel Hall LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $616,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of SO. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC increased its position in Southern by 20.3% during the second quarter. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC now owns 6,031 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $468,000 after buying an additional 1,018 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Southern by 11.4% in the 2nd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 50,652 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,929,000 after acquiring an additional 5,201 shares during the period. Wedmont Private Capital boosted its stake in Southern by 20.1% during the 2nd quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 12,608 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,008,000 after purchasing an additional 2,106 shares during the period. EWG Elevate Inc. increased its stake in Southern by 15.7% in the second quarter. EWG Elevate Inc. now owns 4,655 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $361,000 after purchasing an additional 632 shares during the period. Finally, Burke & Herbert Bank & Trust Co. raised its holdings in shares of Southern by 149.5% in the second quarter. Burke & Herbert Bank & Trust Co. now owns 16,230 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,259,000 after buying an additional 9,726 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SO has been the topic of a number of research reports. Scotiabank raised their price target on Southern from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Southern from $80.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Mizuho lowered Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $90.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Monday, September 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $90.00.

Insider Transactions at Southern

In other news, CEO James Y. Kerr II sold 30,000 shares of Southern stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.64, for a total transaction of $2,689,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 145,088 shares in the company, valued at $13,005,688.32. The trade was a 17.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.90, for a total transaction of $100,503.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 88,393 shares in the company, valued at $7,592,958.70. The trade was a 1.31 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of SO stock opened at $84.81 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $89.36 and a 200 day moving average price of $85.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.91. The stock has a market cap of $92.92 billion, a PE ratio of 19.72, a P/E/G ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.51. The Southern Company has a 1 year low of $65.80 and a 1 year high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $7.27 billion during 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 revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.42 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 18th were paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 18th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.40%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 66.98%.

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.