Asset Management One Co. Ltd. Increases Stock Holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Asset Management One Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 1.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 487,433 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,460 shares during the quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Southern were worth $43,957,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. National Pension Service raised its holdings in Southern by 13.0% in the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 2,420,890 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $218,316,000 after purchasing an additional 279,304 shares in the last quarter. Klingenstein Fields & Co. LP raised its holdings in Southern by 1.8% in the third quarter. Klingenstein Fields & Co. LP now owns 139,390 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $12,570,000 after purchasing an additional 2,429 shares in the last quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Southern by 10.1% in the third quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. now owns 143,110 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $12,906,000 after purchasing an additional 13,110 shares in the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. raised its holdings in Southern by 31.6% in the third quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 138,447 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $12,485,000 after purchasing an additional 33,266 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TrueWealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Southern by 0.5% in the third quarter. TrueWealth Advisors LLC now owns 41,020 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,699,000 after purchasing an additional 202 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Southern Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE:SO opened at $88.12 on Tuesday. The Southern Company has a 52-week low of $65.80 and a 52-week high of $94.45. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $96.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.49, a PEG ratio of 3.15 and a beta of 0.52. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $89.77 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $83.47.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.10. Southern had a return on equity of 12.78% and a net margin of 17.87%. The firm had revenue of $7.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.14 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.42 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.04 EPS for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be given a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.27%. Southern’s payout ratio is currently 66.98%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of Southern 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 44,467 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,981,575.18. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of Southern 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 44,467 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,981,575.18. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 145,088 shares in the company, valued at $13,005,688.32. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Southern from $83.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Bank of America raised 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. 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. Scotiabank raised their price target on Southern from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $89.27.

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.