Longview Financial Advisors Inc. Grows Stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Longview Financial Advisors Inc. raised its stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 9.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 4,696 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 392 shares during the quarter. Longview Financial Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $424,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SO. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Southern by 3,628.6% during the first quarter. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 522 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 508 shares during the last quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division purchased a new stake in shares of Southern during the first quarter worth about $39,000. Cedar Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Southern by 63.2% during the first quarter. Cedar Wealth Management LLC now owns 545 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 211 shares during the last quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Southern during the second quarter worth about $39,000. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc increased its position in shares of Southern by 31.8% during the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 585 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $45,000 after acquiring an additional 141 shares during the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on SO shares. Barclays lifted their target price on Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Mizuho lowered Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $90.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Monday, September 16th. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on Southern from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Southern from $77.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Southern currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $89.07.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Southern news, CEO James Y. Kerr II sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.64, for a total value 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. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Southern news, CEO James Y. Kerr II sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.64, for a total value 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. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.54, for a total value of $587,830.10. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 44,467 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,981,575.18. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 38,945 shares of company stock worth $3,488,826 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE SO traded up $0.54 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $93.24. 3,663,359 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,440,846. 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 stock’s 50 day moving average price is $88.81 and its 200-day moving average price is $81.71. The firm has a market cap of $101.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.09, a PEG ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 0.52. The Southern Company has a twelve month low of $64.53 and a twelve month high of $93.35.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.19. The business had revenue of $6.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.10 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.88% and a net margin of 17.67%. The business’s revenue was up 12.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.79 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 4.02 EPS for the current 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 given a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.09%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 74.42%.

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.