StoneX Group Inc. Grows Holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

StoneX Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 2.0% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 64,207 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,280 shares during the period. StoneX Group Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $5,790,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of SO. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Southern by 168.1% during the third quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC now owns 311 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 195 shares in the last quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Southern in the second quarter worth about $39,000. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its stake in shares of Southern by 31.8% in the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 585 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $45,000 after buying an additional 141 shares in the last quarter. West Branch Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of 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 last quarter. Finally, Friedenthal Financial bought a new stake in shares of Southern during the second quarter valued at approximately $52,000. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Southern Trading Down 0.6 %

NYSE:SO opened at $87.60 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $95.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.21 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 business has a fifty day moving average price of $89.73 and a 200-day moving average price of $84.74. The Southern Company has a one year low of $65.80 and a one year high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $7.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.14 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.78% and a net margin of 17.87%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.42 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.04 EPS for the current 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 paid a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.29%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 66.98%.

Insider Activity

In other Southern news, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of the firm’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 directly owns 44,467 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,981,575.18. This trade represents a 12.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO James Y. Kerr II sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 145,088 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,005,688.32. This trade represents a 17.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on SO. Scotiabank increased their target price on Southern from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Mizuho lowered Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $90.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Monday, September 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Southern from $80.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Finally, Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Southern has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $89.47.

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.