The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Shares Acquired by Detalus Advisors LLC

Detalus Advisors LLC lifted its stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 35.2% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 13,877 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,614 shares during the period. Detalus Advisors LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $1,251,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC boosted its stake in Southern by 10.7% during the third quarter. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC now owns 11,598 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,046,000 after buying an additional 1,121 shares in the last quarter. Coston McIsaac & Partners lifted its position in shares of Southern by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Coston McIsaac & Partners now owns 76,303 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $6,880,000 after acquiring an additional 1,476 shares during the last quarter. TFG Advisers LLC grew its holdings in shares of Southern by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. TFG Advisers LLC now owns 28,204 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,543,000 after acquiring an additional 221 shares during the last quarter. Greenleaf Trust raised its position in shares of Southern by 2.6% during the third quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 30,146 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,719,000 after purchasing an additional 755 shares during the period. Finally, Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI boosted its position in shares of Southern by 41.1% in the 3rd quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI now owns 6,050 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $546,000 after purchasing an additional 1,761 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

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 shares were sold at an average price of $89.64, for a total value of $2,689,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 145,088 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,005,688.32. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, CEO James Y. Kerr II sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 in the company, valued at $13,005,688.32. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of Southern stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owns 44,467 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,981,575.18. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 38,945 shares of company stock valued at $3,488,826 over the last 90 days. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Southern Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of Southern stock traded up $0.38 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $93.46. 875,787 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,410,420. 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 52 week low of $65.80 and a 52 week high of $93.90. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $89.04 and its 200 day simple moving average is $82.11. The company has a market cap of $102.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.34 and a beta of 0.52.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $6.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.10 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.88% and a net margin of 17.67%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.79 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Shareholders 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.08%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 68.57%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Bank of America upped 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. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Southern in a research note on Friday, September 20th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $94.00 price objective for the company. 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 research note on Friday, August 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Southern from $77.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $89.07.

Southern Company 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.