Archer Investment Corp Buys 550 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Archer Investment Corp grew its stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 7.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,007 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 550 shares during the period. Archer Investment Corp’s holdings in Southern were worth $722,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of SO. Birchcreek Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Southern by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. Birchcreek Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,836 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $256,000 after buying an additional 121 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC increased its position in shares of Southern by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 23,042 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,078,000 after purchasing an additional 915 shares during the last quarter. Empirical Finance LLC increased its position in shares of Southern by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 37,389 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,372,000 after purchasing an additional 835 shares during the last quarter. Vectors Research Management LLC increased its position in shares of Southern by 10.2% during the 3rd quarter. Vectors Research Management LLC now owns 24,800 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,239,000 after purchasing an additional 2,294 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Balboa Wealth Partners increased its position in shares of Southern by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Balboa Wealth Partners now owns 11,269 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,016,000 after purchasing an additional 203 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on SO. Wolfe Research downgraded Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Guggenheim boosted their price target on Southern from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Southern from $83.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Southern from $80.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $89.27.

Insider Activity at Southern

In other news, CEO James Y. Kerr II sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 145,088 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,005,688.32. The trade was a 17.13 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of the business’s 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,467 shares in the company, 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. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Southern Price Performance

SO stock traded up $0.15 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $86.93. 61,297 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,423,308. 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 business has a fifty day moving average price of $89.86 and a 200 day moving average price of $84.13. The Southern Company has a 12 month low of $65.80 and a 12 month high of $94.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $95.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.22, a PEG ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.52.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.10. The firm 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%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.42 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 4.04 EPS for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Investors 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 yield of 3.31%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is presently 66.98%.

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.