OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC Trims Stock Holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC lowered its holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 7.7% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund 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 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of SO. Blair William & Co. IL boosted its holdings in Southern by 1.6% in the first quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 91,898 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $6,593,000 after purchasing an additional 1,415 shares during the last quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC lifted its holdings in Southern by 8.5% during the 1st quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 4,098 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $294,000 after buying an additional 321 shares during the last quarter. Nwam LLC lifted its holdings in Southern by 8.8% during the 1st quarter. Nwam LLC now owns 11,605 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $890,000 after buying an additional 937 shares during the last quarter. M&G Plc bought a new position in Southern during the 1st quarter worth approximately $5,648,000. Finally, First Foundation Advisors bought a new position in Southern during the 1st quarter worth approximately $66,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SO has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased 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. Wolfe Research downgraded Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Guggenheim raised their price target on Southern from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Southern from $80.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price target on Southern from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $89.27.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 145,088 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,005,688.32. This trade represents a 17.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, 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 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 approximately $3,981,575.18. The trade was a 12.86 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Southern Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of SO stock opened at $87.92 on Friday. The Southern Company has a 1 year low of $65.80 and a 1 year high of $94.45. The stock has a market cap 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 business’s fifty day moving average is $89.86 and its 200-day moving average is $84.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.91.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $7.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.14 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.78% and a net margin of 17.87%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.42 EPS. Equities analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th will be issued a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. Southern’s payout ratio is 66.98%.

About Southern

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.