The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Holdings Lowered by STAR Financial Bank

STAR Financial Bank lowered its stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 8.9% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 5,067 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 493 shares during the period. STAR Financial Bank’s holdings in Southern were worth $457,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its position in Southern by 1,361.6% during the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 3,201 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $229,000 after purchasing an additional 2,982 shares in the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its position in Southern by 241.7% during the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 44,240 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,173,000 after acquiring an additional 31,292 shares during the period. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC grew its stake in Southern by 31.5% during the 1st quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC now owns 6,093 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $437,000 after acquiring an additional 1,459 shares in the last quarter. Pitcairn Co. increased its holdings in shares of Southern by 23.1% in the 1st quarter. Pitcairn Co. now owns 4,695 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $337,000 after purchasing an additional 881 shares during the period. Finally, Shell Asset Management Co. lifted its position in shares of Southern by 20.3% in the first quarter. Shell Asset Management Co. now owns 22,641 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,624,000 after purchasing an additional 3,816 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on SO. Mizuho lowered shares of Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $90.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Scotiabank lifted their price target on Southern from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Guggenheim increased their price objective on Southern from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Southern from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Southern from $77.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. 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 company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Southern currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $89.27.

Insider Activity at Southern

In other news, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.54, for a total value of $587,830.10. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 44,467 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,981,575.18. This represents a 12.86 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO James Y. Kerr II sold 30,000 shares of Southern 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 145,088 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,005,688.32. This represents a 17.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Southern Stock Down 0.4 %

NYSE SO opened at $87.97 on Thursday. The Southern Company has a twelve month low of $65.80 and a twelve month high of $94.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.91. The stock has a market cap of $96.39 billion, a PE ratio of 20.46, a PEG ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 0.52. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $89.78 and a 200 day simple moving average of $84.57.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $7.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.14 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.78% and a net margin of 17.87%. Southern’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.42 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.04 EPS for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.27%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 66.98%.

Southern 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.