EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC Boosts Stock Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 6.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 26,918 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,562 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $2,427,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of SO. Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Southern by 1,361.6% during the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 3,201 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $229,000 after purchasing an additional 2,982 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Southern by 241.7% during the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 44,240 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,173,000 after purchasing an additional 31,292 shares during the period. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Southern by 31.5% during the 1st quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC now owns 6,093 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $437,000 after purchasing an additional 1,459 shares during the period. Pitcairn Co. raised its stake in shares of Southern by 23.1% during the 1st quarter. Pitcairn Co. now owns 4,695 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $337,000 after purchasing an additional 881 shares during the period. Finally, Shell Asset Management Co. raised its stake in shares of Southern by 20.3% during the 1st quarter. Shell Asset Management Co. now owns 22,641 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,624,000 after purchasing an additional 3,816 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently issued reports on SO. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Southern from $78.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Southern from $80.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 12th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Barclays increased their price objective on Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Mizuho lowered Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $90.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Monday, September 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $89.27.

Insider Activity at Southern

In other Southern 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 value of $2,689,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 145,088 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,005,688.32. This trade represents a 17.13 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of Southern 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,981,575.18. The trade was a 12.86 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Southern Trading Down 0.4 %

NYSE SO opened at $87.97 on Thursday. The Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $65.80 and a fifty-two week 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. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $89.78 and a two-hundred day simple moving average 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.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $7.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.14 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.78% and a net margin of 17.87%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.42 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The business 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 dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 66.98%.

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.