OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC Has $3.84 Million Stock Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC cut its holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 7.7% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 42,544 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 3,567 shares during the period. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $3,837,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in SO. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Southern by 0.5% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 100,089,634 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $7,180,430,000 after acquiring an additional 481,071 shares during the period. Capital International Investors increased its stake in Southern by 45.9% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 23,994,733 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,721,382,000 after acquiring an additional 7,550,570 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates increased its stake in Southern by 5.7% during the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 2,718,040 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $245,113,000 after acquiring an additional 145,810 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its stake in Southern by 3.3% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 2,619,995 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $236,271,000 after acquiring an additional 82,946 shares during the period. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Southern by 2.1% during the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,542,113 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $197,192,000 after acquiring an additional 51,751 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on SO. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Southern from $78.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Guggenheim boosted their target price on Southern from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price 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 boosted their target price on Southern from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. One investment 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. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $89.27.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Southern news, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of Southern stock in a transaction on Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.54, for a total transaction of $587,830.10. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO James Y. Kerr II sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Southern Trading Up 1.3 %

NYSE SO opened at $87.92 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $89.86 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $84.13. The Southern Company has a 12 month low of $65.80 and a 12 month high of $94.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $96.33 billion, a PE ratio of 20.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66.

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

Southern Announces Dividend

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 issued a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.28%. Southern’s payout ratio is currently 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.