Klingenstein Fields & Co. LP Has $12.57 Million Stock Holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Klingenstein Fields & Co. LP increased its stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 139,390 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,429 shares during the period. Klingenstein Fields & Co. LP’s holdings in Southern were worth $12,570,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Southern by 0.5% during the first 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 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 valued at $1,721,382,000 after purchasing an additional 7,550,570 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates boosted its stake in shares of Southern by 5.7% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 2,718,040 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $245,113,000 after purchasing an additional 145,810 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Southern by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,542,113 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $197,192,000 after buying an additional 51,751 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Southern by 14.3% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,380,841 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $184,694,000 after buying an additional 297,012 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Southern

In other news, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of Southern stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.54, for a total value of $587,830.10. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,467 shares in the company, valued at $3,981,575.18. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other 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 value of $587,830.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 44,467 shares in the company, valued at $3,981,575.18. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO James Y. Kerr II sold 30,000 shares of Southern stock in a transaction dated 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 approximately $13,005,688.32. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of SO stock opened at $88.50 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $96.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.26 and a beta of 0.52. The Southern Company has a 52 week low of $65.80 and a 52 week high of $94.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.91. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $89.74 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $83.35.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $7.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.14 billion. Southern had a net margin of 17.87% and a return on equity of 12.90%. The firm’s revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.42 EPS. On average, analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th will be issued 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 3.25%. Southern’s payout ratio is presently 66.98%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on SO. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Southern from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Southern from $80.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Barclays upped their price objective on Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. UBS Group raised their target price on Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Bank of America upped their price target on Southern from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $89.27.

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.