Stonebridge Financial Planning Group LLC Purchases New Holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Stonebridge Financial Planning Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 2,300 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $207,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Darwin Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southern during the third quarter worth approximately $91,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Southern by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 314,672 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $28,377,000 after buying an additional 5,459 shares in the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Southern during the 3rd quarter valued at $8,439,000. Howe & Rusling Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Southern by 55.8% during the 3rd quarter. Howe & Rusling Inc. now owns 7,228 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $652,000 after acquiring an additional 2,589 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hilton Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Southern in the third quarter worth $216,000. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In related news, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of Southern stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.54, for a total transaction of $587,830.10. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 44,467 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,981,575.18. This trade represents a 12.86 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO James Y. Kerr II sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,005,688.32. This represents a 17.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have commented on SO shares. Guggenheim boosted their target price on Southern from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Mizuho cut Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $90.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Southern from $83.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Wolfe Research cut Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $89.27.

Southern Trading Down 0.3 %

SO stock traded down $0.30 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $87.99. The company had a trading volume of 1,733,628 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,429,435. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $89.79 and a 200-day moving average price of $84.55. The Southern Company has a 12 month low of $65.80 and a 12 month high of $94.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66. The stock has a market cap of $96.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.53, a PEG ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 0.52.

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

Southern Announces Dividend

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

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.