Community Trust & Investment Co. Invests $292,000 in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Community Trust & Investment Co. bought a new position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 3,236 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $292,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vista Capital Partners Inc. boosted its stake in Southern by 1.4% in the 2nd 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 in the last quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. boosted its stake in Southern by 3.8% in the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Modera Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Southern by 1.4% in the 2nd 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 in the last quarter. Red Door Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Southern by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. Red Door Wealth Management LLC now owns 13,926 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,080,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Elwood & Goetz Wealth Advisory Group LLC lifted its stake in Southern by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter. Elwood & Goetz Wealth Advisory Group LLC now owns 6,352 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $493,000 after acquiring an additional 128 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have issued reports on SO shares. 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 target price on the stock. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Southern from $78.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Guggenheim upped 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. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Southern from $80.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $89.07.

Southern Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of SO opened at $93.08 on Wednesday. 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 1 year low of $64.53 and a 1 year high of $93.73. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $89.04 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $82.11. The firm has a market cap of $101.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.34 and a beta of 0.52.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.10 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.19. The firm 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 company’s quarterly revenue was up 12.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.79 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be given a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.09%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is currently 68.57%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO James Y. Kerr II sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 44,467 shares in the company, valued at $3,981,575.18. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO James Y. Kerr II sold 30,000 shares of Southern stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 145,088 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,005,688.32. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 38,945 shares of company stock worth $3,488,826. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by 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.