D Orazio & Associates Inc. Purchases Shares of 2,451 The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

D Orazio & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 2,451 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $221,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Angeles Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in Southern by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Angeles Investment Advisors LLC now owns 7,019 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $633,000 after buying an additional 164 shares during the last quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Southern by 12.0% in the third quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 2,229 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $200,000 after purchasing an additional 239 shares during the last quarter. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc lifted its position in shares of Southern by 1.9% in the third quarter. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc now owns 155,865 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $14,056,000 after purchasing an additional 2,867 shares in the last quarter. Rossmore Private Capital lifted its position in shares of Southern by 35.0% in the third quarter. Rossmore Private Capital now owns 4,269 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $385,000 after purchasing an additional 1,106 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Simmons Bank boosted its holdings in Southern by 5.7% during the third quarter. Simmons Bank now owns 67,797 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,114,000 after purchasing an additional 3,684 shares during the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Southern news, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.54, for a total transaction of $587,830.10. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 44,467 shares in the company, valued at $3,981,575.18. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, CEO James Y. Kerr II sold 30,000 shares of the business’s 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 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 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 44,467 shares in the company, valued at $3,981,575.18. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Southern Stock Performance

Southern stock traded down $0.46 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $87.25. The company had a trading volume of 560,451 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,434,969. The Southern Company has a one year low of $65.80 and a one year high of $94.45. The firm has a market cap of $95.60 billion, a PE ratio of 20.34, a PEG ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 0.52. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $89.94 and a 200 day moving average of $84.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.66.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 analysts’ expectations of $7.14 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.42 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Announces Dividend

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 given a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is 66.98%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on SO shares. Guggenheim increased their price objective on shares of Southern from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Scotiabank increased their price target on Southern from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Southern from $80.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Wolfe Research cut shares of Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Southern from $77.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. 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 has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $89.27.

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.