Financial Advocates Investment Management Decreases Position in Southern Company (The) $SO

Financial Advocates Investment Management decreased its stake in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 23.4% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 7,463 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 2,279 shares during the quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management’s holdings in Southern were worth $685,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Southern by 14.3% in the second quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 58,714 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,392,000 after buying an additional 7,360 shares during the last quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Southern by 9,099.6% in the second quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,421,331 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $406,011,000 after acquiring an additional 4,373,271 shares during the period. Insigneo Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Southern by 12.7% in the second quarter. Insigneo Advisory Services LLC now owns 3,661 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $336,000 after acquiring an additional 412 shares during the period. CreativeOne Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 11.5% in the 2nd quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 25,025 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,298,000 after acquiring an additional 2,583 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Summit Global Investments boosted its stake in shares of Southern by 2.9% during the 2nd quarter. Summit Global Investments now owns 9,395 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $863,000 after purchasing an additional 264 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SO has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley reissued an “underperform” rating and issued a $97.00 price objective on shares of Southern in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $102.50 price target (up from $99.50) on shares of Southern in a report on Friday, October 17th. Scotiabank reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $99.00 price target on shares of Southern in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. Evercore ISI began coverage on Southern in a research report on Monday, October 6th. They issued an “in-line” rating and a $103.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Southern in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $99.03.

Southern Trading Up 1.2%

NYSE:SO opened at $90.32 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $93.78 and a 200-day simple moving average of $92.42. Southern Company has a one year low of $80.46 and a one year high of $100.83. The firm has a market cap of $99.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.22, a P/E/G ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.74.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The utilities provider reported $1.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $7.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.04 billion. Southern had a net margin of 15.10% and a return on equity of 12.09%. Southern’s revenue was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.39 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 17th will be given a $0.74 dividend. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 17th. Southern’s payout ratio is presently 73.27%.

Southern Company 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.