BlueCrest Capital Management Ltd Takes Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

BlueCrest Capital Management Ltd purchased a new position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor purchased 6,109 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $551,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of SO. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Southern by 168.1% during the third quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC now owns 311 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 195 shares in the last quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Southern during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its holdings in Southern by 31.8% during the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 585 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 141 shares during the last quarter. West Branch Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Southern by 34.7% in the 3rd quarter. West Branch Capital LLC now owns 501 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 129 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Friedenthal Financial purchased a new position in shares of Southern during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $52,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Southern Stock Performance

SO opened at $89.15 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66. The business’s 50 day moving average is $89.72 and its 200-day moving average is $85.08. The stock has a market cap of $97.68 billion, a PE ratio of 20.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.52. The Southern Company has a twelve month low of $65.80 and a twelve month high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.14 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.42 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th will be issued a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. Southern’s payout ratio is currently 66.98%.

Insider Activity at Southern

In related news, CEO James Y. Kerr II sold 30,000 shares of Southern 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 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 6th. The shares were 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 directly owns 44,467 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,981,575.18. The trade was a 12.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on SO. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Southern in a research note on Friday, September 20th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $94.00 target price on the stock. UBS Group lifted their price target on Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Southern from $83.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $89.47.

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.