Hilton Capital Management LLC Takes $216,000 Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Hilton Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 2,400 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $216,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of SO. Mizuho Securities USA LLC increased its position in Southern by 17,272.6% in the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 14,647,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,320,866,000 after acquiring an additional 14,562,689 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank increased its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 15,300 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates raised its position in Southern by 5.7% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 2,718,040 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $245,113,000 after purchasing an additional 145,810 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Southern by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 2,619,995 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $236,271,000 after buying an additional 82,946 shares during the period. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Southern by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,542,113 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $197,192,000 after buying an additional 51,751 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Southern

In other news, CEO James Y. Kerr II sold 30,000 shares of the 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 owns 145,088 shares in the company, valued at $13,005,688.32. This represents a 17.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 44,467 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,981,575.18. This trade represents a 12.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Southern from $78.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Southern from $80.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Southern in a report on Friday, September 20th. They set a “hold” rating and a $94.00 price target for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $89.27.

Southern Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of Southern stock opened at $87.97 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $96.39 billion, a PE ratio of 20.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.21 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 stock has a 50 day moving average price of $89.78 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $84.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.91.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.10. Southern had a net margin of 17.87% and a return on equity of 12.78%. The business had revenue of $7.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.14 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.42 EPS. Southern’s revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 4.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th will be issued a $0.72 dividend. 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%.

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.