Activest Wealth Management Acquires Shares of 600 The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Activest Wealth Management acquired a new stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 600 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $54,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in SO. Vista Capital Partners Inc. raised its holdings in Southern by 1.4% in the second quarter. Vista Capital Partners Inc. now owns 8,743 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $678,000 after purchasing an additional 118 shares in the last quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. grew its stake in Southern by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. now owns 3,246 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $293,000 after purchasing an additional 119 shares during the last quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC increased its holdings in Southern by 5.8% in the 3rd quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC now owns 2,201 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $198,000 after buying an additional 121 shares during the period. Birchcreek Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Southern by 4.5% during the third quarter. Birchcreek Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,836 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $256,000 after purchasing an additional 121 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Modera Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. Modera Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,048 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $702,000 after buying an additional 124 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SO has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased 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. Scotiabank increased their target price on shares of Southern from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Southern in a report on Friday, September 20th. They set a “hold” rating and a $94.00 price target for the company. Finally, Wolfe Research lowered shares of Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $89.27.

Southern Stock Down 0.4 %

NYSE SO traded down $0.32 during trading on Thursday, reaching $87.97. 4,239,934 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,582,807. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $89.78 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $84.57. The stock has a market cap of $96.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 0.52. The Southern Company has a 1 year low of $65.80 and a 1 year high of $94.45. 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 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. Southern had a return on equity of 12.78% and a net margin of 17.87%. The business had revenue of $7.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.14 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.42 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 4.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th will be given 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 yield of 3.27%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 66.98%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO James Y. Kerr II sold 30,000 shares of Southern 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 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through 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 transaction 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 $3,981,575.18. This trade represents a 12.86 % 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.