Plato Investment Management Ltd Acquires 434 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Plato Investment Management Ltd grew its stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 12.9% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 3,792 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 434 shares during the quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd’s holdings in Southern were worth $342,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Blair William & Co. IL boosted its position in Southern by 1.6% in the first quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 91,898 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $6,593,000 after buying an additional 1,415 shares in the last quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC raised its stake in shares of Southern by 8.5% in the first quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 4,098 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $294,000 after acquiring an additional 321 shares during the last quarter. Nwam LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Southern by 8.8% in the 1st quarter. Nwam LLC now owns 11,605 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $890,000 after acquiring an additional 937 shares in the last quarter. M&G Plc bought a new stake in Southern during the 1st quarter worth approximately $5,648,000. Finally, First Foundation Advisors acquired a new stake in Southern during the 1st quarter valued at $66,000. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In related 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 value of $2,689,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 145,088 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,005,688.32. This trade represents a 17.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 44,467 shares in the company, valued at $3,981,575.18. This trade represents a 12.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SO has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Wolfe Research cut Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Mizuho lowered shares of Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $90.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Monday, September 16th. Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of Southern from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Southern from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Southern from $80.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. 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 company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $89.27.

Southern Trading Up 1.3 %

NYSE SO opened at $87.92 on Friday. 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 Southern Company has a 12 month low of $65.80 and a 12 month high of $94.45. The company has a market capitalization of $96.33 billion, a PE ratio of 20.22, a P/E/G ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.52. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $89.86 and a 200 day simple moving average of $84.13.

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

Southern Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th will be paid 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 yield of 3.28%. Southern’s payout ratio 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.