Bank of Hawaii Purchases 505 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Bank of Hawaii boosted its position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 31,378 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 505 shares during the period. Bank of Hawaii’s holdings in Southern were worth $2,830,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of SO. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Southern by 168.1% in the 3rd quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC now owns 311 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 195 shares in the last quarter. West Branch Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Southern by 34.7% in 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. TruNorth Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southern in the 2nd quarter worth about $39,000. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its position in shares of Southern by 31.8% during the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 585 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 141 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Activest Wealth Management bought a new position in Southern during the 3rd quarter valued at about $54,000. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Southern

In related news, CEO James Y. Kerr II sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 145,088 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,005,688.32. This trade 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 accessible through this link. Also, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.54, for a total transaction of $587,830.10. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,467 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,981,575.18. This represents a 12.86 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of SO opened at $87.60 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $89.73 and a 200 day simple moving average of $84.79. 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 $65.80 and a 12 month high of $94.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $95.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.37, a PEG ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 0.52.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $7.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.14 billion. Southern had a net margin of 17.87% and a return on equity of 12.78%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.42 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be paid 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%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on SO shares. Wolfe Research lowered Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Mizuho cut shares of Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $90.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Southern from $77.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $89.47.

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.