First City Capital Management Inc. Acquires 155 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

First City Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 22,875 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 155 shares during the quarter. Southern makes up approximately 1.1% of First City Capital Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 22nd biggest position. First City Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $2,063,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vista Capital Partners Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 1.4% during the second quarter. Vista Capital Partners Inc. now owns 8,743 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $678,000 after purchasing an additional 118 shares during the period. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 3.8% during the third quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. now owns 3,246 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $293,000 after purchasing an additional 119 shares during the period. DT Investment Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 5.8% during the third quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC now owns 2,201 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $198,000 after purchasing an additional 121 shares during the period. Birchcreek Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 4.5% during the third quarter. Birchcreek Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,836 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $256,000 after purchasing an additional 121 shares during the period. Finally, Modera Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 1.4% during the second quarter. Modera Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,048 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $702,000 after purchasing an additional 124 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on SO. Scotiabank lifted their target price on Southern from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Guggenheim lifted their target price on Southern from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Southern from $83.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Southern from $78.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Southern in a research note on Friday, September 20th. They set a “hold” rating and a $94.00 price objective on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $89.27.

Southern Stock Performance

NYSE:SO opened at $88.05 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $89.82 and a two-hundred day moving average of $84.46. The Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $65.80 and a fifty-two week high of $94.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $96.47 billion, a PE ratio of 20.48, a P/E/G ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.91.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.10. Southern had a net margin of 17.87% and a return on equity of 12.78%. The firm had revenue of $7.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.14 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.42 EPS. Southern’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th will be given a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.27%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th. Southern’s payout ratio is 66.98%.

Insider Activity at Southern

In other Southern news, CEO James Y. Kerr II sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 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 17.13 % decrease in their position. 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 44,467 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,981,575.18. The trade was a 12.86 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Southern Company 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.