The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Shares Purchased by Cornerstone Planning Group LLC

Cornerstone Planning Group LLC grew its position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 12.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,229 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 239 shares during the quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $200,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of SO. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Southern by 0.5% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 100,089,634 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $7,180,430,000 after buying an additional 481,071 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its position in shares of Southern by 45.9% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 23,994,733 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,721,382,000 after purchasing an additional 7,550,570 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 5.7% during the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 2,718,040 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $245,113,000 after purchasing an additional 145,810 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Southern by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 2,619,995 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $236,271,000 after purchasing an additional 82,946 shares during the period. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Southern by 2.1% during the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,542,113 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $197,192,000 after buying an additional 51,751 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have issued reports on the stock. Mizuho cut shares of Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $90.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Monday, September 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Southern from $78.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Guggenheim upped their price objective on shares of Southern from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Southern presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $89.27.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 44,467 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,981,575.18. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO James Y. Kerr II sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 145,088 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,005,688.32. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Southern Price Performance

Shares of SO stock opened at $87.34 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $95.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.40, a P/E/G ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66. The Southern Company has a 12 month low of $65.80 and a 12 month high of $94.45. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $89.97 and a two-hundred day moving average of $83.99.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.10. Southern had a net margin of 17.87% and a return on equity of 12.78%. The firm had revenue of $7.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.14 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.42 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.04 EPS for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The business 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 3.30%. Southern’s payout ratio is presently 66.98%.

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.