L.M. Kohn & Company Acquires 1,480 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

L.M. Kohn & Company raised its position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 9.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 17,686 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,480 shares during the period. L.M. Kohn & Company’s holdings in Southern were worth $1,595,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. OneAscent Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southern in the third quarter worth $576,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Southern by 5.4% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 108,361 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $9,772,000 after buying an additional 5,589 shares during the last quarter. Swiss National Bank grew its holdings in shares of Southern by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 3,245,500 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $292,679,000 after acquiring an additional 15,300 shares in the last quarter. Burke & Herbert Bank & Trust Co. increased its position in shares of Southern by 149.5% in the second quarter. Burke & Herbert Bank & Trust Co. now owns 16,230 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,259,000 after acquiring an additional 9,726 shares during the last quarter. Finally, HBW Advisory Services LLC increased its position in shares of Southern by 219.4% in the third quarter. HBW Advisory Services LLC now owns 8,971 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $809,000 after acquiring an additional 6,162 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In other news, CEO James Y. Kerr II sold 30,000 shares of Southern 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 145,088 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,005,688.32. The trade was a 17.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,467 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,981,575.18. The trade was a 12.86 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Southern Price Performance

Southern stock opened at $89.15 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $97.68 billion, a PE ratio of 20.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.52. The Southern Company has a one year low of $65.80 and a one year high of $94.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.66. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $89.72 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $85.08.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $7.27 billion for 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%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.42 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The company 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.23%. Southern’s payout ratio is presently 66.98%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on SO shares. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Southern in a research note on Friday, September 20th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $94.00 price target for the company. Mizuho lowered shares of Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $90.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $89.47.

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.