Old North State Trust LLC Has $2.01 Million Stock Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Old North State Trust LLC lifted its holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 22,300 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 144 shares during the quarter. Southern accounts for approximately 1.6% of Old North State Trust LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 9th largest position. Old North State Trust LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $2,011,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Southern by 168.1% in the third quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC now owns 311 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 195 shares in the last quarter. 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 in the last quarter. Quarry LP bought a new position in Southern during the third quarter valued at about $49,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new position in Southern during the third quarter valued at about $49,000. Finally, Activest Wealth Management bought a new position in Southern during the third quarter valued at about $54,000. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Southern

In other Southern news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.90, for a total value of $100,503.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 88,393 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,592,958.70. This trade represents a 1.31 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO James Y. Kerr II sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 145,088 shares in the company, valued at $13,005,688.32. This trade represents a 17.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Southern in a research note on Friday, September 20th. They set a “hold” rating and a $94.00 target price for the company. Scotiabank raised their target price on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. UBS Group raised their target price on Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Mizuho lowered Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $90.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $90.14.

Southern Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of Southern stock opened at $83.37 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $88.80 and a 200 day moving average price of $85.47. The company has a market cap of $91.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.39, a P/E/G ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66. The Southern Company has a 1 year low of $65.80 and a 1 year high of $94.45.

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

Southern Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 18th were paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 18th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.