Main Street Financial Solutions LLC Grows Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Main Street Financial Solutions LLC lifted its position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 4.3% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 53,793 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,194 shares during the period. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $4,851,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in SO. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its position in shares of Southern by 7.9% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 19,369 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,390,000 after buying an additional 1,416 shares in the last quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Southern by 19.1% during the 1st quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. now owns 12,782 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $917,000 after buying an additional 2,053 shares in the last quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System lifted its position in shares of Southern by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 1,218,465 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $84,781,000 after buying an additional 6,074 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Southern by 18.1% during the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,290,849 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $92,606,000 after buying an additional 198,164 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kingsview Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Southern by 4.9% during the 1st quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 27,957 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,006,000 after buying an additional 1,298 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on SO. UBS Group increased their target price on Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Southern from $80.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Southern from $77.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Wolfe Research lowered Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Bank of America raised their price objective on Southern from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Southern has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $89.27.

Southern Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of Southern stock traded down $0.30 on Wednesday, reaching $87.41. 624,649 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,435,607. The company has a market cap of $95.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 0.52. 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 stock’s 50 day moving average price is $89.94 and its 200-day moving average price is $84.09. The Southern Company has a 1-year low of $65.80 and a 1-year high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $7.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.14 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.42 earnings per share. Southern’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.04 EPS for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be issued a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.29%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 66.98%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In other Southern news, 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 145,088 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,005,688.32. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.54, for a total transaction of $587,830.10. Following 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO James Y. Kerr II sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 145,088 shares in the company, valued at $13,005,688.32. This trade represents a 0.00 % 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.

About Southern

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.