Gradient Investments LLC Has $257,000 Stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Gradient Investments LLC lifted its position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 4.5% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 3,309 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 143 shares during the period. Gradient Investments LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $257,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. Scarborough Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Southern during the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its stake in Southern by 62.0% during the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 444 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 170 shares in the last quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Southern during the second quarter worth $39,000. Finally, Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Southern by 3,628.6% in the first quarter. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 522 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 508 shares in the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Southern

In other news, EVP Sterling A. Jr. Spainhour sold 2,380 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.99, for a total transaction of $211,796.20. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 12,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,112,375. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, EVP Sterling A. Jr. Spainhour sold 2,380 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.99, for a total transaction of $211,796.20. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 12,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,112,375. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Anthony L. Wilson sold 6,900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.61, for a total value of $535,509.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 85,309 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,620,831.49. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 21,280 shares of company stock valued at $1,678,625 over the last 90 days. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on SO. Wolfe Research lowered Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Argus raised their target price on Southern from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 15th. Bank of America raised their target price on Southern from $73.00 to $79.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Barclays raised their target price on Southern from $66.00 to $71.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Southern from $74.00 to $71.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $82.00.

Southern Trading Up 0.4 %

SO traded up $0.35 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $87.36. 3,754,471 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,391,978. 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 Southern Company has a one year low of $61.56 and a one year high of $89.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $95.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.57, a PEG ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 0.51. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $81.37 and its 200 day simple moving average is $75.25.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.19. Southern had a return on equity of 12.88% and a net margin of 17.67%. The firm had revenue of $6.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.10 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.79 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 12.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 19th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 74.42%.

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.