The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Shares Purchased by Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC

Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 7.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 54,183 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,531 shares during the quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $4,886,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in SO. Global Assets Advisory LLC acquired a new position in shares of Southern in the 1st quarter valued at $3,096,000. Sound Income Strategies LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Southern by 4.6% in the 1st quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 6,941 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $498,000 after purchasing an additional 306 shares during the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management boosted its holdings in shares of Southern by 18.2% in the 1st quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 79,414 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,697,000 after purchasing an additional 12,247 shares during the last quarter. Sovereign Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Southern by 6.4% in the 1st quarter. Sovereign Financial Group Inc. now owns 41,216 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,957,000 after purchasing an additional 2,473 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GoalVest Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Southern by 10.4% in the 1st quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC now owns 13,812 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $991,000 after purchasing an additional 1,299 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In other Southern news, CEO James Y. Kerr II sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 4th. The shares were 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. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, CEO James Y. Kerr II sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 145,088 shares in the company, valued at $13,005,688.32. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of the business’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 transaction of $587,830.10. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 44,467 shares in the company, 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. Insiders sold 38,945 shares of company stock valued at $3,488,826 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Southern Price Performance

SO opened at $93.08 on Wednesday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $89.04 and a 200-day moving average of $82.11. The company has a market capitalization of $101.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.16, a PEG ratio of 3.34 and a beta of 0.52. The Southern Company has a 1-year low of $64.53 and a 1-year high of $93.73. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.10 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.19. Southern had a net margin of 17.67% and a return on equity of 12.88%. The business had revenue of $6.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.10 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.79 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 12.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. Southern’s payout ratio is 68.57%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on SO. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Southern from $80.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Southern from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Mizuho downgraded shares of Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $90.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Southern from $77.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $89.07.

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.