Morton Community Bank Decreases Stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Morton Community Bank lowered its position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 1.3% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 45,250 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 585 shares during the quarter. Morton Community Bank’s holdings in Southern were worth $4,081,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. OneAscent Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in Southern in the third quarter worth approximately $576,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Southern by 5.4% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 108,361 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $9,772,000 after buying an additional 5,589 shares during the last quarter. Swiss National Bank lifted its position in shares of Southern by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 3,245,500 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $292,679,000 after buying an additional 15,300 shares during the last quarter. Burke & Herbert Bank & Trust Co. lifted its position in shares of Southern by 149.5% during the 2nd quarter. Burke & Herbert Bank & Trust Co. now owns 16,230 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,259,000 after buying an additional 9,726 shares during the last quarter. Finally, HBW Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in shares of Southern by 219.4% during the 3rd quarter. HBW Advisory Services LLC now owns 8,971 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $809,000 after buying an additional 6,162 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on SO. Mizuho downgraded shares of Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $90.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Southern from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Guggenheim boosted their price objective on shares of Southern from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Southern from $80.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Southern has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $89.47.

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of SO opened at $89.13 on Friday. 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 Southern Company has a 1 year low of $65.80 and a 1 year high of $94.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $97.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.73, a P/E/G ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 0.52. The company’s fifty day moving average is $89.72 and its two-hundred day moving average is $85.12.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 17.87% and a return on equity of 12.78%. The business had revenue of $7.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.14 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.42 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. 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 3.23%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 66.98%.

Insider Transactions at Southern

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 shares were 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 directly owns 145,088 shares in the company, valued at $13,005,688.32. The trade was a 17.13 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.54, for a total transaction of $587,830.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 44,467 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,981,575.18. This trade represents a 12.86 % 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.

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.