Allen Capital Group LLC Acquires 7,829 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Allen Capital Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 76.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 18,016 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,829 shares during the quarter. Allen Capital Group LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $1,625,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Southern by 1,361.6% in the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 3,201 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $229,000 after buying an additional 2,982 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Southern by 241.7% in the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 44,240 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,173,000 after buying an additional 31,292 shares during the period. Pitcairn Co. raised its stake in shares of Southern by 23.1% in the first quarter. Pitcairn Co. now owns 4,695 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $337,000 after buying an additional 881 shares during the period. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Southern by 16.2% in the first quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 17,942 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,287,000 after buying an additional 2,508 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors raised its stake in shares of Southern by 35.0% in the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 1,929,980 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $138,457,000 after buying an additional 500,000 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Southern from $78.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Southern from $80.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 12th. UBS Group lifted their price target on Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Southern from $83.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Mizuho cut Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $90.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Monday, September 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Southern presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $89.27.

Southern Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of SO stock opened at $88.14 on Friday. 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 business has a 50-day moving average price of $89.77 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $84.60. The Southern Company has a 12-month low of $65.80 and a 12-month high of $94.45. The firm has a market cap of $96.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 0.52.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.10. Southern had a return on equity of 12.78% and a net margin of 17.87%. The firm had revenue of $7.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.14 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.42 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 4.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be paid a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.27%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 66.98%.

Insider Activity

In other Southern news, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of the company’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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 44,467 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,981,575.18. This represents a 12.86 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO James Y. Kerr II sold 30,000 shares of the company’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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 145,088 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,005,688.32. The trade was a 17.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Southern Company 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.