Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc. Acquires 2,023 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 2.5% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 82,595 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,023 shares during the period. Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $7,448,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in Southern by 168.1% during the 3rd quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC now owns 311 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 195 shares in the last quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Southern during the 2nd quarter valued at $39,000. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its position in Southern by 31.8% during the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 585 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 141 shares in the last quarter. West Branch Capital LLC raised its position in Southern by 34.7% during the 3rd quarter. West Branch Capital LLC now owns 501 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 129 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Friedenthal Financial purchased a new position in shares of Southern in the 2nd quarter valued at $52,000. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on SO. UBS Group lifted their price target on Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Southern from $80.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. Bank of America lifted their price target on Southern from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Mizuho downgraded Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $90.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Wolfe Research downgraded Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” 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 issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Southern currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $89.47.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In other news, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 44,467 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,981,575.18. The trade was a 12.86 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Southern Stock Down 0.6 %

Southern stock opened at $87.60 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 business’s 50-day simple moving average is $89.73 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $84.74. The company has a market cap of $95.98 billion, a PE ratio of 20.37, a PEG ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 0.52. The Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $65.80 and a fifty-two week high of $94.45.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $7.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.14 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.78% and a net margin of 17.87%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.42 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 4.04 EPS for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

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