6,390 Shares in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Acquired by OneAscent Financial Services LLC

OneAscent Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 6,390 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $576,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in SO. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in Southern by 45.9% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 23,994,733 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,721,382,000 after buying an additional 7,550,570 shares during the period. Mizuho Securities USA LLC lifted its stake in Southern by 17,272.6% in the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 14,647,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,320,866,000 after buying an additional 14,562,689 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank lifted its stake in Southern by 0.5% in the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 3,245,500 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $292,679,000 after buying an additional 15,300 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates lifted its stake in Southern by 5.7% in the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 2,718,040 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $245,113,000 after buying an additional 145,810 shares during the period. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its stake in Southern by 3.3% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 2,619,995 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $236,271,000 after buying an additional 82,946 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SO has been the subject of several recent research reports. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Southern in a report on Friday, September 20th. They set a “hold” rating and a $94.00 price objective for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Southern from $83.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Wolfe Research downgraded Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Southern from $80.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $89.27.

Southern Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE:SO opened at $88.05 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $96.47 billion, a PE ratio of 20.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.20 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 $89.82 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $84.46. The Southern Company has a 1 year low of $65.80 and a 1 year high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced 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 firm had revenue of $7.27 billion during 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.42 EPS. Analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.04 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. 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 3.27%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is presently 66.98%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.54, for a total transaction of $587,830.10. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 44,467 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,981,575.18. This represents a 12.86 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO James Y. Kerr II sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.64, for a total value of $2,689,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 145,088 shares in the company, valued at $13,005,688.32. This 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.

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.