Mutual Advisors LLC Buys 558 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Mutual Advisors LLC lifted its stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 2.0% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 28,340 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 558 shares during the period. Mutual Advisors LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $2,653,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of SO. Norden Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southern in the 1st quarter worth about $5,683,000. Kovack Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Southern by 10.1% in the first quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc. now owns 16,267 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,167,000 after purchasing an additional 1,498 shares during the last quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Southern by 1.0% during the first quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 27,285 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,955,000 after buying an additional 264 shares during the period. Private Advisor Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Southern by 4.9% during the first quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 106,758 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $7,659,000 after buying an additional 4,940 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Diversify Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Southern in the first quarter worth approximately $532,000. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have commented on the company. Barclays upped their price objective on Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on shares of Southern from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Southern from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Southern from $83.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $89.07.

Southern Price Performance

Shares of SO stock opened at $89.38 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $89.60 and its 200 day moving average is $82.95. The Southern Company has a 1-year low of $65.80 and a 1-year high of $94.45. 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 company has a market cap of $97.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.28, a PEG ratio of 3.29 and a beta of 0.52.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.19. The business had revenue of $6.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.10 billion. Southern had a net margin of 17.67% and a return on equity of 12.88%. The company’s revenue was up 12.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.79 EPS. Research analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

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 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 yield of 3.22%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 68.57%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 145,088 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,005,688.32. This 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 company’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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 145,088 shares in the company, valued at $13,005,688.32. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Sterling A. Jr. Spainhour sold 2,380 shares of Southern stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.99, for a total transaction of $211,796.20. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 12,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,112,375. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 38,945 shares of company stock valued at $3,488,826. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.