DT Investment Partners LLC Has $198,000 Stock Holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

DT Investment Partners LLC boosted its holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 5.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,201 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 121 shares during the quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $198,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. apricus wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of Southern by 2.2% during the third quarter. apricus wealth LLC now owns 31,290 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,822,000 after acquiring an additional 685 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in Southern by 172.9% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 207,375 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $18,701,000 after purchasing an additional 131,378 shares during the last quarter. Impact Partnership Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Southern during the 3rd quarter worth about $286,000. Grimes & Company Inc. grew its position in shares of Southern by 19.0% in the 3rd quarter. Grimes & Company Inc. now owns 14,641 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,320,000 after buying an additional 2,341 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Romano Brothers AND Company increased its stake in shares of Southern by 1.9% in the third quarter. Romano Brothers AND Company now owns 19,801 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,786,000 after buying an additional 372 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SO has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Southern from $87.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Guggenheim upped their price target on shares of Southern from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Southern from $80.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $89.07.

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of SO stock opened at $93.61 on Friday. 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 $102.36 billion, a PE ratio of 22.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.33 and a beta of 0.52. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $89.18 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $82.20. 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 posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $6.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.10 billion. Southern had a net margin of 17.67% and a return on equity of 12.88%. The firm’s revenue was up 12.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.79 EPS. Analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Investors 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 3.08%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th. Southern’s payout ratio is currently 68.57%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In other news, CEO James Y. Kerr II sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 4th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $13,005,688.32. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, CEO James Y. Kerr II sold 30,000 shares of the company’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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 145,088 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,005,688.32. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of the 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 sale, 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 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 38,945 shares of company stock worth $3,488,826. 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.