Activest Wealth Management Acquires New Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Activest Wealth Management purchased a new position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor purchased 600 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $54,000.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Southern by 168.1% during the 3rd quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC now owns 311 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 195 shares during the period. TruNorth Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southern in the 2nd quarter worth about $39,000. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its stake in Southern by 31.8% during the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 585 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 141 shares in the last quarter. West Branch Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Southern by 34.7% during the 3rd quarter. West Branch Capital LLC now owns 501 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 129 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Friedenthal Financial bought a new position in shares of Southern in the 2nd quarter worth about $52,000. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Southern from $80.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Southern from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Southern in a report on Friday, September 20th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $94.00 price target on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $89.27.

Southern Stock Down 0.4 %

NYSE:SO traded down $0.32 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $87.97. The stock had a trading volume of 4,239,934 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,582,807. The stock has a market cap of $96.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.46, a PEG ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 0.52. The business’s 50 day moving average is $89.78 and its 200 day moving average is $84.57. 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 Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $65.80 and a fifty-two week high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $7.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.14 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.78% and a net margin of 17.87%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.42 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date 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 (DPR) is presently 66.98%.

Insider Transactions at Southern

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

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.