The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Stock Holdings Increased by B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc.

B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 5.9% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 78,043 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,323 shares during the period. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $7,054,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SO. Mizuho Securities USA LLC boosted its stake in shares of Southern by 17,272.6% during the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 14,647,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,320,866,000 after acquiring an additional 14,562,689 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Southern by 8,741.6% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,502,813 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $135,524,000 after acquiring an additional 1,485,816 shares during the period. Synovus Financial Corp grew its position in Southern by 72.4% during the third quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 3,077,959 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $277,570,000 after purchasing an additional 1,293,072 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 24,521,339 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,203,386,000 after buying an additional 1,075,768 shares during the last quarter. Finally, 1832 Asset Management L.P. lifted its stake in Southern by 2,719.7% in the second quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 872,373 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $67,670,000 after acquiring an additional 841,435 shares during the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on SO. Mizuho lowered Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $90.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Monday, September 16th. Scotiabank increased their price objective on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. UBS Group upped their price target on Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on shares of Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Southern currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $90.14.

Southern Trading Down 0.2 %

SO stock opened at $83.18 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $91.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.34, a PEG ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66. The Southern Company has a twelve month low of $65.80 and a twelve month high of $94.45. The business has a fifty day moving average of $88.66 and a 200-day moving average of $85.51.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analysts’ expectations of $7.14 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.42 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.03 EPS for the current year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 18th were given a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 18th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.46%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is 66.98%.

Insider Activity at Southern

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 transaction of $2,689,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 145,088 shares in the company, valued at $13,005,688.32. This trade represents a 17.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.90, for a total transaction of $100,503.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 88,393 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,592,958.70. The trade was a 1.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.