The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Shares Purchased by ORG Partners LLC

ORG Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 454.8% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 2,985 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,447 shares during the period. ORG Partners LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $230,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of SO. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Southern in the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Scarborough Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Southern in the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its holdings in Southern by 62.0% in the 1st quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 444 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 170 shares during the last quarter. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Southern by 3,628.6% in the 1st quarter. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 522 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 508 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cassady Schiller Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Southern by 46.3% in the 4th quarter. Cassady Schiller Wealth Management LLC now owns 556 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 176 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on SO. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Southern from $66.00 to $71.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Southern from $80.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Southern from $74.00 to $71.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 24th. Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of Southern from $77.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Southern from $77.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $82.00.

Southern Trading Down 0.0 %

Shares of NYSE:SO traded down $0.01 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $87.19. 2,284,164 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,495,499. 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 firm has a market cap of $95.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.53, a P/E/G ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.51. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $80.86 and its 200 day simple moving average is $74.96. The Southern Company has a 1 year low of $61.56 and a 1 year high of $89.68.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.10 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.19. Southern had a net margin of 17.67% and a return on equity of 12.88%. The company had revenue of $6.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.10 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.79 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 12.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.01 EPS for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 19th will be issued a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 19th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.30%. Southern’s payout ratio is 74.42%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Sterling A. Jr. Spainhour sold 2,380 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.99, for a total value of $211,796.20. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 12,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,112,375. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Southern news, EVP Sloane N. Drake sold 12,000 shares of Southern stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.61, for a total value of $931,320.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,771 shares in the company, valued at $1,301,597.31. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Sterling A. Jr. Spainhour sold 2,380 shares of Southern stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were 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 directly owns 12,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,112,375. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 21,280 shares of company stock worth $1,678,625. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.