Hobbs Group Advisors LLC Buys 125 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Hobbs Group Advisors LLC increased its position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 8.0% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,678 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 125 shares during the quarter. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $151,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Southern by 168.1% in the 3rd quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC now owns 311 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 195 shares during the period. TruNorth Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Southern in the second quarter worth $39,000. West Branch Capital LLC boosted its stake in Southern by 34.7% during the third quarter. West Branch Capital LLC now owns 501 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 129 shares during the period. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in Southern during the third quarter worth about $49,000. Finally, Quarry LP bought a new position in Southern in the 3rd quarter worth about $49,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SO has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group lifted their price target on Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Guggenheim lifted their target price on shares of Southern from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Mizuho lowered shares of Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $90.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Monday, September 16th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Southern from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Southern in a research report on Friday, September 20th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $94.00 target price for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $90.00.

Southern Trading Up 0.1 %

NYSE SO opened at $84.39 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $92.46 billion, a PE ratio of 19.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.51. The Southern Company has a 1-year low of $65.80 and a 1-year high of $94.45. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $89.25 and a 200-day moving average of $85.45. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.10. Southern had a return on equity of 12.78% and a net margin of 17.87%. The firm had revenue of $7.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.14 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.42 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.03 EPS for the current year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th were issued a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 18th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 66.98%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

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 owns 145,088 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,005,688.32. This trade represents a 17.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.90, for a total transaction of $100,503.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 88,393 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,592,958.70. The trade was a 1.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.