The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Stake Raised by Concord Asset Management LLC VA

Concord Asset Management LLC VA boosted its holdings in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 30.8% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 33,681 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,922 shares during the quarter. Concord Asset Management LLC VA’s holdings in Southern were worth $3,037,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of SO. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Southern by 168.1% during the third quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC now owns 311 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 195 shares in the last quarter. Cedar Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Southern by 63.2% in the 1st quarter. Cedar Wealth Management LLC now owns 545 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 211 shares in the last quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Southern in the second quarter worth approximately $39,000. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its position in Southern by 31.8% during the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 585 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 141 shares in the last quarter. Finally, West Branch Capital LLC lifted its stake in Southern by 34.7% in the third quarter. West Branch Capital LLC now owns 501 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 129 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In related news, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of Southern stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.54, for a total value 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 $3,981,575.18. The trade was a 12.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO James Y. Kerr II sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 4th. The stock was 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 approximately $13,005,688.32. This represents a 17.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on SO. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Guggenheim raised their target price on Southern from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Bank of America upped their price target on Southern from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Southern from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Wolfe Research downgraded Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. One investment 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 has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $89.27.

Southern Stock Performance

NYSE SO opened at $87.93 on Friday. The Southern Company has a twelve month low of $65.80 and a twelve month 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 market cap of $96.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.45, a PEG ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 0.52. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $89.85 and its 200 day simple moving average is $84.30.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $7.27 billion during 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%. Southern’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.42 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.28%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.