Empirical Finance LLC Acquires 835 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Empirical Finance LLC boosted its holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 2.3% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 37,389 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 835 shares during the quarter. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $3,372,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Intech Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Southern by 382.0% in the 1st quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 41,790 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,998,000 after purchasing an additional 33,120 shares during the period. Nwam LLC grew its stake in Southern by 8.8% during the first quarter. Nwam LLC now owns 11,605 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $890,000 after buying an additional 937 shares in the last quarter. Burke & Herbert Bank & Trust Co. increased its holdings in Southern by 149.5% in the 2nd quarter. Burke & Herbert Bank & Trust Co. now owns 16,230 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,259,000 after buying an additional 9,726 shares during the period. HBW Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 6,162 shares during the period. Finally, Triad Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southern in the 2nd quarter valued at $455,000. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO James Y. Kerr II sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 4th. The shares were 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 directly owns 145,088 shares in the company, valued at $13,005,688.32. This trade represents a 17.13 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 6th. The shares were 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 approximately $3,981,575.18. This represents a 12.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SO has been the topic of several recent research reports. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Southern from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Mizuho lowered shares of Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $90.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Monday, September 16th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on shares of Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Southern from $77.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Southern from $78.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $89.27.

Southern Trading Up 0.2 %

NYSE SO opened at $86.92 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $95.24 billion, a PE ratio of 20.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $89.91 and a 200-day moving average of $84.12. The Southern Company has a 1-year low of $65.80 and a 1-year high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $7.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.14 billion. Southern had a net margin of 17.87% and a return on equity of 12.78%. Southern’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.42 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.04 EPS for the current year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be issued a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 66.98%.

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.