B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG Takes $5.36 Million Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG bought a new stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Free Report) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 59,409 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $5,358,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. First City Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Southern by 0.7% during the third quarter. First City Capital Management Inc. now owns 22,875 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $2,063,000 after purchasing an additional 155 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Southern by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 9,942 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $897,000 after purchasing an additional 161 shares during the period. BIP Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Southern by 24.4% during the 3rd quarter. BIP Wealth LLC now owns 10,248 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $924,000 after acquiring an additional 2,012 shares during the period. OneAscent Financial Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Southern during the 3rd quarter worth $576,000. Finally, Whalen Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Southern in the 3rd quarter valued at about $231,000. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

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 $13,005,688.32. This represents a 17.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed 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 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 of the company's stock, valued at $3,981,575.18. This trade represents 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

Several research firms have recently issued reports on SO. Wolfe Research cut Southern from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. 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 note on Monday, August 12th. Bank of America lifted their price target on Southern from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Southern from $83.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. One investment 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, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $89.27.

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:SO traded down $0.32 on Wednesday, hitting $87.97. The company had a trading volume of 3,973,221 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,440,690. The Southern Company has a 1-year low of $65.80 and a 1-year high of $94.45. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $89.78 and a 200 day moving average price of $84.57. 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 stock has a market cap of $96.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.46, a P/E/G ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 0.52.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $7.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations 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 period last year, the business earned $1.42 EPS. Analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.04 EPS for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed 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 of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.27%. Southern's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.