The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Shares Bought by Certified Advisory Corp

Certified Advisory Corp grew its holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 28.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 9,994 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,207 shares during the quarter. Certified Advisory Corp’s holdings in Southern were worth $901,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Mizuho Securities USA LLC raised its stake in Southern by 17,272.6% in the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 14,647,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,320,866,000 after acquiring an additional 14,562,689 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Southern by 0.8% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,405,596 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $577,657,000 after purchasing an additional 52,414 shares during the last quarter. Swiss National Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 0.5% during the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 3,245,500 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $292,679,000 after purchasing an additional 15,300 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates boosted its position in Southern by 5.7% in the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 2,718,040 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $245,113,000 after buying an additional 145,810 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its holdings in Southern by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 2,619,995 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $236,271,000 after buying an additional 82,946 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on SO shares. Guggenheim upped their price objective on shares of Southern from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Southern from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Southern in a research report on Friday, September 20th. They set a “hold” rating and a $94.00 price objective for the company. 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 research report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on shares of Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $89.47.

Southern Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of SO opened at $87.60 on Friday. The Southern Company has a 52-week low of $65.80 and a 52-week high of $94.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $89.73 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $84.74. The company has a market capitalization of $95.98 billion, a PE ratio of 20.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 0.52.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 EPS 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 company had revenue of $7.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.14 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.42 earnings per share. Southern’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.04 EPS for the current year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.29%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is presently 66.98%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Southern 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 transaction 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. This represents a 17.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,467 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,981,575.18. The trade was a 12.86 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Southern Company 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.