Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda Makes New Investment in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda bought a new stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 3,556 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $321,000.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of SO. Intech Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Southern by 382.0% in the 1st quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 41,790 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,998,000 after purchasing an additional 33,120 shares during the period. Nwam LLC increased its position in Southern by 8.8% during the first quarter. Nwam LLC now owns 11,605 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $890,000 after acquiring an additional 937 shares during the last quarter. First Hawaiian Bank raised its stake in shares of Southern by 2.5% in the first quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 9,440 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $677,000 after acquiring an additional 229 shares during the period. Burke & Herbert Bank & Trust Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 149.5% in the 2nd quarter. Burke & Herbert Bank & Trust Co. now owns 16,230 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,259,000 after acquiring an additional 9,726 shares during the last quarter. Finally, HBW Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of Southern by 219.4% during the 3rd quarter. HBW Advisory Services LLC now owns 8,971 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $809,000 after purchasing an additional 6,162 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on SO. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Southern from $78.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Mizuho cut 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. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Southern from $87.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Guggenheim boosted their target price on shares of Southern from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Southern in a research note on Friday, September 20th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $94.00 price target on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $89.07.

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:SO opened at $90.74 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $88.46 and a 200 day moving average of $81.33. 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 company has a market capitalization of $99.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 0.52. The Southern Company has a 52 week low of $64.53 and a 52 week high of $91.86.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.10 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.19. Southern had a return on equity of 12.88% and a net margin of 17.67%. The firm had revenue of $6.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.10 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.79 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be given a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.17%. Southern’s payout ratio is currently 68.57%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.54, for a total transaction of $587,830.10. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,467 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,981,575.18. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.54, for a total transaction of $587,830.10. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 44,467 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,981,575.18. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Sterling A. Jr. Spainhour sold 2,380 shares of Southern stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was 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 owns 12,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,112,375. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 38,945 shares of company stock worth $3,488,826 in the last 90 days. 0.18% of the stock is 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.