United Capital Management of KS Inc. Purchases 588 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

United Capital Management of KS Inc. lifted its holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 11.7% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 5,597 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 588 shares during the period. United Capital Management of KS Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $505,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Empowered Funds LLC increased its stake in Southern by 7.9% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 19,369 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,390,000 after purchasing an additional 1,416 shares in the last quarter. Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC acquired a new position in Southern during the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,607,000. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS boosted its holdings in Southern by 6.6% in the first quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 2,186,037 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $156,826,000 after acquiring an additional 135,837 shares in the last quarter. Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Southern by 5.9% in the first quarter. Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 79,161 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,679,000 after acquiring an additional 4,403 shares during the period. Finally, Everence Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Southern by 15.6% during the first quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. now owns 41,691 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,991,000 after acquiring an additional 5,630 shares in the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wolfe Research cut Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Guggenheim boosted their target price 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. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Southern from $77.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Scotiabank raised their target price on Southern from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Southern has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $89.27.

Southern Trading Up 2.0 %

Shares of Southern stock opened at $88.64 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $89.93 and a 200-day moving average price of $83.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.66. The firm has a market cap of $97.12 billion, a PE ratio of 20.61, a P/E/G ratio of 3.15 and a beta of 0.52. The Southern Company has a 1 year low of $65.80 and a 1 year high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $7.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.14 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.42 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 4.04 EPS for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be given a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.25%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is currently 66.98%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In related news, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of Southern stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 6th. The shares were 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 directly owns 44,467 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,981,575.18. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO James Y. Kerr II sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.64, for a total transaction of $2,689,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 145,088 shares in the company, valued at $13,005,688.32. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of the 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 owns 44,467 shares in the company, valued at $3,981,575.18. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.