Angeles Investment Advisors LLC Grows Stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Angeles Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,019 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 164 shares during the period. Angeles Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $633,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of SO. Empowered Funds LLC grew its stake in shares of Southern by 7.9% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 19,369 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,390,000 after buying an additional 1,416 shares during the period. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Southern by 19.1% in the 1st quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. now owns 12,782 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $917,000 after buying an additional 2,053 shares during the period. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System grew its stake in shares of Southern by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 1,218,465 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $84,781,000 after buying an additional 6,074 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Southern by 18.1% in the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,290,849 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $92,606,000 after buying an additional 198,164 shares during the period. Finally, Kingsview Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Southern by 4.9% in the 1st quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 27,957 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,006,000 after buying an additional 1,298 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Southern

In related news, CEO James Y. Kerr II sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.64, for a total value of $2,689,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 145,088 shares of the company’s stock, 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 accessible through this link. 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 completion of the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.54, for a total transaction of $587,830.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 44,467 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,981,575.18. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on SO shares. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on shares of Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Southern from $78.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Southern from $80.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Southern in a report on Friday, September 20th. They set a “hold” rating and a $94.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Southern from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $89.27.

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of SO stock traded up $0.11 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $87.82. The stock had a trading volume of 71,966 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,433,359. 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 Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $65.80 and a fifty-two week high of $94.45. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $89.97 and its 200-day simple moving average is $83.99. The firm has a market cap of $96.22 billion, a PE ratio of 20.40, a PEG ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 0.52.

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

Southern Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be given a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.28%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.