OneAscent Financial Services LLC Buys Shares of 6,390 The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

OneAscent Financial Services LLC bought a new position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Free Report) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 6,390 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $576,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Whalen Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in Southern during the third quarter worth $231,000. Caprock Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Southern by 5.0% in the third quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 25,601 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $2,309,000 after buying an additional 1,215 shares in the last quarter. Aviance Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Southern by 10.8% in the third quarter. Aviance Capital Partners LLC now owns 8,292 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $748,000 after buying an additional 805 shares in the last quarter. OneAscent Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Southern in the third quarter valued at $2,726,000. Finally, Mawer Investment Management Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Southern by 14.8% in the third quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 1,086,175 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $97,951,000 after buying an additional 139,712 shares in the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.54, for a total value of $587,830.10. Following the completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO James Y. Kerr II sold 30,000 shares of the firm'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 transaction of $2,689,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 145,088 shares of the company's stock, valued at $13,005,688.32. This trade represents a 17.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on SO shares. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Southern from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Southern from $77.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Southern from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Scotiabank increased their target price on shares of Southern from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Southern has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $89.27.

Southern Stock Performance

NYSE SO traded up $0.24 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $88.28. 3,546,436 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,440,634. The Southern Company has a 1 year low of $65.80 and a 1 year high of $94.45. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $89.79 and its 200-day simple moving average is $84.55. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $96.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.53, a P/E/G ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 0.52.

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

Southern Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be given a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.26%. Southern's dividend payout ratio is presently 66.98%.

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.