OneAscent Wealth Management LLC Makes New $2.73 Million Investment in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

OneAscent Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 30,230 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,726,000. Southern makes up about 1.0% of OneAscent Wealth Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 8th biggest holding.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Mizuho Securities USA LLC increased its stake in shares of Southern by 17,272.6% during 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 purchasing an additional 14,562,689 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its holdings in Southern by 45.9% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 23,994,733 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,721,382,000 after purchasing an additional 7,550,570 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in Southern by 8,741.6% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,502,813 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $135,524,000 after buying an additional 1,485,816 shares during the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. raised its stake in shares of Southern by 2,719.7% in the second quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 872,373 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $67,670,000 after buying an additional 841,435 shares during the period. Finally, Wulff Hansen & CO. raised its stake in shares of Southern by 7,657.0% in the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 571,148 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $44,304,000 after buying an additional 563,785 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently issued reports on SO shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Southern from $80.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective 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. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Southern from $77.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Scotiabank increased their target price on shares of Southern from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the company 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 given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $89.27.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 owns 44,467 shares in the company, valued at $3,981,575.18. This trade represents a 12.86 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO James Y. Kerr II sold 30,000 shares of the company’s 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 completion of 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Southern Trading Down 0.3 %

NYSE:SO traded down $0.22 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $87.71. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 332,626 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,424,709. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $89.85 and a 200-day simple moving average of $84.37. The Southern Company has a 1 year low of $65.80 and a 1 year high of $94.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $96.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.45, a PEG ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 0.52. 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 earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $7.27 billion for 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 business’s revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.42 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

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

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.