Emprise Bank Invests $203,000 in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Emprise Bank bought a new stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 2,248 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $203,000.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Scarborough Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Southern during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its position in shares of Southern by 62.0% in the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 444 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 170 shares during the period. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Southern by 3,628.6% in the first quarter. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 522 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 508 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Richardson Financial Services Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter valued at $39,000. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Southern from $87.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Southern from $83.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Barclays lifted their target price on Southern from $66.00 to $71.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Southern from $78.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their price objective on shares of Southern from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $88.27.

Southern Stock Performance

Southern stock opened at $91.60 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $87.60 and its 200-day moving average price is $80.05. 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 company has a market cap of $100.16 billion, a PE ratio of 23.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 0.52. The Southern Company has a twelve month low of $61.56 and a twelve month high of $91.82.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.19. The business had revenue of $6.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.10 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.88% and a net margin of 17.67%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 12.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.79 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 19th were given a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 19th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 74.42%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Anthony L. Wilson sold 6,900 shares of Southern stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.61, for a total transaction of $535,509.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 85,309 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,620,831.49. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Sterling A. Jr. Spainhour sold 2,380 shares of Southern stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.99, for a total transaction of $211,796.20. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 12,500 shares in the company, valued at $1,112,375. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Anthony L. Wilson sold 6,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.61, for a total transaction of $535,509.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 85,309 shares in the company, valued at $6,620,831.49. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 15,845 shares of company stock valued at $1,335,135. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.