Metis Global Partners LLC Has $7.05 Million Stock Holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Metis Global Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 15.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 78,200 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 10,458 shares during the quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC's holdings in Southern were worth $7,052,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Intech Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Southern by 382.0% in the 1st quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 41,790 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $2,998,000 after acquiring an additional 33,120 shares during the period. Nwam LLC lifted its position in shares of Southern by 8.8% during the 1st quarter. Nwam LLC now owns 11,605 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $890,000 after buying an additional 937 shares during the period. Burke & Herbert Bank & Trust Co. lifted its position in shares of Southern by 149.5% during the 2nd quarter. Burke & Herbert Bank & Trust Co. now owns 16,230 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,259,000 after buying an additional 9,726 shares during the period. HBW Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in shares of Southern by 219.4% during the 3rd quarter. HBW Advisory Services LLC now owns 8,971 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $809,000 after buying an additional 6,162 shares during the period. Finally, Triad Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Southern during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $455,000. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on SO shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Southern from $77.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Southern in a report on Friday, September 20th. They set a "hold" rating and a $94.00 price target for the company. Mizuho cut Southern from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $90.00 price target for the company. in a report on Monday, September 16th. Guggenheim raised their price target on Southern from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Wolfe Research cut Southern from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Southern has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $89.27.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO James Y. Kerr II sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.54, for a total value of $587,830.10. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,467 shares in the company, valued at $3,981,575.18. This represents a 12.86 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

Southern Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of Southern stock traded down $0.74 during trading on Thursday, reaching $86.78. The stock had a trading volume of 3,265,132 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,443,037. The company has a market capitalization of $95.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.35, a P/E/G ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 0.52. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $89.91 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $84.12. The Southern Company has a 52 week low of $65.80 and a 52 week 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 released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $7.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.14 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.78% and a net margin of 17.87%. Southern's quarterly revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.42 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared 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. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.32%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th. Southern's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.