Wealth Architects LLC Invests $229,000 in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Wealth Architects LLC purchased a new stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 2,539 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $229,000.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in SO. Blake Schutter Theil Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Southern during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $813,000. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Southern by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 80,083 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $7,222,000 after acquiring an additional 2,930 shares during the period. Radnor Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Southern in the 3rd quarter valued at about $424,000. Leslie Global Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Southern during the third quarter valued at about $422,000. Finally, Catalina Capital Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Southern by 14.0% in the third quarter. Catalina Capital Group LLC now owns 3,767 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $340,000 after purchasing an additional 464 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Guggenheim boosted their price objective on Southern from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Southern from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $89.27.

Insider Buying and Selling

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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 145,088 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,005,688.32. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO James Y. Kerr II sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 145,088 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,005,688.32. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of Southern stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.54, for a total transaction of $587,830.10. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,467 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,981,575.18. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Southern Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of SO opened at $87.40 on Thursday. The Southern Company has a 1-year low of $65.80 and a 1-year high of $94.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $95.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.33, a PEG ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 0.52. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $89.86 and its 200-day moving average price is $83.62. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66.

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

Southern Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be issued a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.30%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.