Raymond James & Associates Purchases 145,810 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Raymond James & Associates boosted its position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 5.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,718,040 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 145,810 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates owned approximately 0.25% of Southern worth $245,113,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Southern by 3,628.6% in the 1st quarter. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 522 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 508 shares during the last quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division bought a new position in shares of Southern in the 1st quarter worth about $39,000. Cedar Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Southern by 63.2% in the 1st quarter. Cedar Wealth Management LLC now owns 545 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 211 shares during the last quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Southern in the 2nd quarter valued at about $39,000. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its position in Southern by 31.8% in the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 585 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 141 shares during the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In other Southern news, CEO James Y. Kerr II sold 30,000 shares of Southern stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.64, for a total value of $2,689,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 145,088 shares in the company, valued at $13,005,688.32. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CEO James Y. Kerr II sold 30,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, October 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.64, for a total value of $2,689,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 145,088 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,005,688.32. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of the business's stock in a transaction 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 44,467 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,981,575.18. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 38,945 shares of company stock worth $3,488,826 over the last ninety days. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Southern from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Southern from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Southern from $77.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Southern in a research note on Friday, September 20th. They issued a "hold" rating and a $94.00 price objective on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Southern presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $89.07.

Southern Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of SO stock traded up $0.54 during trading on Friday, hitting $93.24. 3,663,359 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,440,846. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $101.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.20, a P/E/G ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 0.52. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $88.81 and its 200 day simple moving average is $81.64. The Southern Company has a twelve month low of $64.53 and a twelve month high of $93.35.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.10 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.19. The business had revenue of $6.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $6.10 billion. Southern had a net margin of 17.67% and a return on equity of 12.88%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 12.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.79 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

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 paid a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. Southern's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 68.57%.

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.