Birchcreek Wealth Management LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Birchcreek Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 2,836 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 121 shares during the quarter. Birchcreek Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $256,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Southern by 4.9% in the 1st quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 27,957 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,006,000 after buying an additional 1,298 shares during the last quarter. Blair William & Co. IL grew its stake in shares of Southern by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 91,898 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,593,000 after buying an additional 1,415 shares in the last quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Southern by 8.5% in the 1st quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 4,098 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $294,000 after purchasing an additional 321 shares during the period. Nwam LLC raised its stake in shares of Southern by 8.8% in the first quarter. Nwam LLC now owns 11,605 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $890,000 after acquiring an additional 937 shares during the period. Finally, M&G Plc bought a new position in shares of Southern during the first quarter valued at approximately $5,648,000. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SO has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Southern from $78.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Mizuho cut Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $90.00 price target for the company. in a report on Monday, September 16th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on Southern in a research note on Friday, September 20th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $94.00 price objective for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Southern from $83.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Guggenheim boosted their price target on Southern from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Southern has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $89.27.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Southern news, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.54, for a total value of $587,830.10. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 44,467 shares in the company, valued at $3,981,575.18. This trade represents a 12.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO James Y. Kerr II sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 145,088 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,005,688.32. This trade represents a 17.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Southern Trading Up 0.3 %

SO traded up $0.23 during trading on Friday, reaching $87.01. 370,918 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,423,241. The Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $65.80 and a fifty-two week high of $94.45. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $89.91 and its 200-day moving average price is $84.12. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $95.34 billion, a PE ratio of 20.18, a P/E/G ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.52.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $7.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.14 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.78% and a net margin of 17.87%. Southern’s revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.42 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast 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. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th will be paid a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.31%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.