NovaPoint Capital LLC Purchases 699 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

NovaPoint Capital LLC grew its position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 6.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,247 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 699 shares during the quarter. NovaPoint Capital LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $1,014,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of SO. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Southern by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 100,089,634 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $7,180,430,000 after acquiring an additional 481,071 shares during the period. Capital International Investors grew its stake in shares of Southern by 45.9% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 23,994,733 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,721,382,000 after acquiring an additional 7,550,570 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates raised its stake in Southern by 21.3% in the 2nd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 2,572,230 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $199,528,000 after acquiring an additional 452,075 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Southern by 2.1% during the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,542,113 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $197,192,000 after purchasing an additional 51,751 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Southern by 14.3% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,380,841 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $184,694,000 after buying an additional 297,012 shares in the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Southern Price Performance

NYSE SO opened at $93.24 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $101.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.20, a PEG ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 0.52. 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 $93.35. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $88.81 and its 200-day moving average price is $81.64.

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

Southern Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be given a $0.72 dividend. 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 payout ratio is currently 68.57%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Sterling A. Jr. Spainhour sold 2,380 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.99, for a total value of $211,796.20. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 12,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,112,375. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Southern news, 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 value of $211,796.20. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 12,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,112,375. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,467 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,981,575.18. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 38,945 shares of company stock worth $3,488,826 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on SO. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Southern from $77.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of Southern from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Southern from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Southern from $83.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $89.07.

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.