The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Shares Acquired by L & S Advisors Inc

L & S Advisors Inc increased its stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 6.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 31,569 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,847 shares during the quarter. L & S Advisors Inc’s holdings in Southern were worth $2,449,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Southern during the 4th quarter worth $631,068,000. Capital International Investors lifted its position in 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. Confluence Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Southern in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $128,413,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of Southern by 36.0% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,529,052 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $247,457,000 after purchasing an additional 934,447 shares during the period. Finally, Wulff Hansen & CO. raised its stake in shares of Southern by 7,657.0% during the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 571,148 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $44,304,000 after purchasing an additional 563,785 shares during the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In other news, EVP Sterling A. Jr. Spainhour sold 2,380 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.99, for a total transaction of $211,796.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 12,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,112,375. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Southern news, EVP Sloane N. Drake sold 12,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.61, for a total transaction of $931,320.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 16,771 shares in the company, valued at $1,301,597.31. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 12,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,112,375. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 27,845 shares of company stock worth $2,266,455 in the last 90 days. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Southern Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of SO stock opened at $89.90 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $85.38 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $78.35. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66. The Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $61.56 and a fifty-two week high of $90.34. The stock has a market cap of $98.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.52.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its 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. The company had revenue of $6.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.10 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.88% and a net margin of 17.67%. The company’s revenue was up 12.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.79 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 4.01 EPS for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Investors of record on Monday, August 19th were issued a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 19th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is currently 74.42%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SO has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Wolfe Research cut shares of Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Southern from $72.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Bank of America raised their price objective on Southern from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Southern from $87.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Southern currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $84.71.

About Southern

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.