Capital Investment Advisors LLC Purchases 10,543 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Capital Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 568,287 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 10,543 shares during the period. Southern makes up approximately 1.1% of Capital Investment Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest holding. Capital Investment Advisors LLC owned 0.05% of Southern worth $51,248,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SO. Intech Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Southern by 382.0% in the 1st quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 41,790 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,998,000 after purchasing an additional 33,120 shares during the period. Nwam LLC increased its position in shares of Southern by 8.8% during the first quarter. Nwam LLC now owns 11,605 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $890,000 after acquiring an additional 937 shares in the last quarter. First Hawaiian Bank raised its holdings in shares of Southern by 2.5% during the first quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 9,440 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $677,000 after acquiring an additional 229 shares during the period. Burke & Herbert Bank & Trust Co. lifted its position in Southern by 149.5% in the 2nd quarter. Burke & Herbert Bank & Trust Co. now owns 16,230 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,259,000 after acquiring an additional 9,726 shares in the last quarter. Finally, HBW Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in Southern by 219.4% in the 3rd quarter. HBW Advisory Services LLC now owns 8,971 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $809,000 after purchasing an additional 6,162 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Southern news, CEO James Y. Kerr II sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related 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 transaction of $2,689,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 145,088 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,005,688.32. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Sterling A. Jr. Spainhour sold 2,380 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.99, for a total value of $211,796.20. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 12,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,112,375. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 38,945 shares of company stock valued at $3,488,826 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Southern Trading Up 0.6 %

NYSE SO opened at $93.25 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $101.96 billion, a PE ratio of 22.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 0.52. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $88.81 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $81.64. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66. The Southern Company has a 12 month low of $64.53 and a 12 month high of $93.35.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.19. The business had revenue of $6.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.10 billion. Southern had a net margin of 17.67% and a return on equity of 12.88%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.79 EPS. On average, analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.02 EPS for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be given a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 68.57%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. 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. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Southern from $78.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Southern from $77.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Mizuho lowered shares of Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $90.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price target on Southern from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $89.07.

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.