Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Purchases 11,341 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 5.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 202,816 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 11,341 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $18,290,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of SO. Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Southern by 1,361.6% during the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 3,201 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $229,000 after buying an additional 2,982 shares during the period. Quadrature Capital Ltd bought a new position in Southern during the 1st quarter worth $1,168,000. 1832 Asset Management L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 11.9% during the first quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 30,938 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,219,000 after buying an additional 3,293 shares in the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Southern by 2.8% in the first quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 14,126 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,013,000 after acquiring an additional 380 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its position in Southern by 422.2% during the first quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 40,501 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,906,000 after acquiring an additional 32,745 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SO has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Mizuho downgraded Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $90.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Guggenheim raised their price target on Southern from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Wolfe Research cut shares of Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Southern has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $89.47.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related 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 transaction of $2,689,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 145,088 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,005,688.32. This trade represents a 17.13 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.54, for a total value of $587,830.10. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 44,467 shares in the company, valued at $3,981,575.18. This trade represents a 12.86 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of Southern stock opened at $87.60 on Monday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $89.73 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $84.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $95.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.37, a P/E/G ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 0.52. The Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $65.80 and a fifty-two week high of $94.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.66.

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

Southern Announces Dividend

The firm 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 $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.29%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.