PDS Planning Inc Grows Stock Holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

PDS Planning Inc lifted its stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 24.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,717 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 724 shares during the quarter. PDS Planning Inc’s holdings in Southern were worth $335,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. QRG Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Southern by 28.2% during the 3rd quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 123,834 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $11,167,000 after acquiring an additional 27,226 shares during the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. raised its stake in Southern by 1.6% during the third quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 487,433 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $43,957,000 after purchasing an additional 7,460 shares during the period. National Pension Service boosted its holdings in Southern by 13.0% in the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 2,420,890 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $218,316,000 after purchasing an additional 279,304 shares during the last quarter. Klingenstein Fields & Co. LP grew its stake in shares of Southern by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Klingenstein Fields & Co. LP now owns 139,390 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $12,570,000 after buying an additional 2,429 shares during the period. Finally, Intact Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Southern by 10.1% during the 3rd quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. now owns 143,110 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $12,906,000 after buying an additional 13,110 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on SO. Guggenheim boosted their price objective on Southern from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Southern in a research note on Friday, September 20th. They set a “hold” rating and a $94.00 target price on the stock. Scotiabank lifted their price target on shares of Southern from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. One research 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $89.27.

Southern Stock Down 0.5 %

Southern stock opened at $88.12 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $96.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.49, a PEG ratio of 3.15 and a beta of 0.52. 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 Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $65.80 and a fifty-two week high of $94.45. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $89.77 and a 200-day simple moving average of $83.47.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted 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 business had revenue of $7.27 billion during 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%. The company’s revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.42 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Stockholders 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 payout ratio is 66.98%.

Insider Transactions at Southern

In related news, 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 value of $587,830.10. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 44,467 shares in the company, valued at $3,981,575.18. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Southern news, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,467 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,981,575.18. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 145,088 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,005,688.32. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Southern Profile

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.