CreativeOne Wealth LLC Purchases 9,855 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

CreativeOne Wealth LLC raised its holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 44.8% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 31,832 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 9,855 shares during the quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC's holdings in Southern were worth $2,871,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of SO. Townsquare Capital LLC increased its stake in Southern by 40.8% during the third quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 26,530 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $2,392,000 after acquiring an additional 7,694 shares during the last quarter. Cadence Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 2.8% in the third quarter. Cadence Bank now owns 15,595 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,406,000 after buying an additional 430 shares during the period. Principal Street Partners LLC acquired a new position in Southern in the third quarter worth approximately $290,000. Avestar Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Southern by 6.2% in the 3rd quarter. Avestar Capital LLC now owns 5,706 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $515,000 after acquiring an additional 332 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group raised its stake in Southern by 7.6% during the 3rd quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 9,945 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $897,000 after purchasing an additional 703 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SO has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Southern from $77.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Scotiabank lifted their price target 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. Bank of America increased their target price on Southern from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Southern from $80.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Monday, August 12th. One equities research 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $89.47.

Southern Price Performance

Shares of Southern stock traded up $0.41 during trading on Thursday, hitting $89.74. The stock had a trading volume of 3,504,794 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,439,474. The business's 50-day moving average is $89.71 and its 200 day moving average is $84.97. The firm has a market cap of $98.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.87, a P/E/G ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 0.52. The Southern Company has a 12 month low of $65.80 and a 12 month high of $94.45. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 17.87% and a return on equity of 12.78%. The firm had revenue of $7.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.14 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.42 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 4.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.21%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th. Southern's payout ratio is 66.98%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of the business'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 directly owns 44,467 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,981,575.18. The trade was a 12.86 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO James Y. Kerr II sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.64, for a total value of $2,689,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 145,088 shares of the company's stock, valued at $13,005,688.32. This represents a 17.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

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.