The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Shares Acquired by Seelaus Asset Management LLC

Seelaus Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 4,513 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 150 shares during the period. Seelaus Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $407,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Cedar Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 211 shares during the last quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Southern in the second quarter valued at $39,000. Versant Capital Management Inc grew 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 during the period. West Branch Capital LLC increased its stake in Southern by 34.7% during the third quarter. West Branch Capital LLC now owns 501 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $45,000 after acquiring an additional 129 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Evermay Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Southern by 120.1% in the 1st quarter. Evermay Wealth Management LLC now owns 678 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $49,000 after purchasing an additional 370 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently issued reports on SO shares. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. 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. Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of Southern from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Southern from $80.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Southern in a research report on Friday, September 20th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $94.00 target price for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Southern currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $89.27.

Insider Activity at Southern

In other news, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of Southern stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,467 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,981,575.18. This trade represents a 12.86 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO James Y. Kerr II sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 145,088 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,005,688.32. This trade 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.

Southern Price Performance

Shares of SO stock opened at $87.92 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $96.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.45, a P/E/G ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.52. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $89.85 and a two-hundred day moving average of $84.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.66. The Southern Company has a 1-year low of $65.80 and a 1-year high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $7.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.14 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.78% and a net margin of 17.87%. The business’s revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.42 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 4.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.28%. Southern’s payout ratio is 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.