The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Shares Acquired by Summit Financial Wealth Advisors LLC

Summit Financial Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 5.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,721 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 321 shares during the period. Summit Financial Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $482,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Adapt Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Southern in the first quarter valued at $248,000. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its stake in Southern by 11.2% in the 1st quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 112,055 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $8,039,000 after acquiring an additional 11,319 shares in the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC boosted its position in Southern by 8.8% during the 1st quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 3,883 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $279,000 after acquiring an additional 314 shares during the period. Lincoln National Corp grew its stake in Southern by 5.4% during the 1st quarter. Lincoln National Corp now owns 53,900 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,867,000 after acquiring an additional 2,767 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mendel Money Management increased its holdings in shares of Southern by 204.3% in the 1st quarter. Mendel Money Management now owns 10,101 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $725,000 after purchasing an additional 19,784 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Southern news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 9,126 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.04, for a total transaction of $684,815.04. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 121,504 shares in the company, valued at $9,117,660.16. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Southern news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 9,126 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.04, for a total value of $684,815.04. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 121,504 shares in the company, valued at $9,117,660.16. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Anthony L. Wilson sold 6,900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.61, for a total transaction of $535,509.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 85,309 shares in the company, valued at $6,620,831.49. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 28,026 shares of company stock valued at $2,151,644. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SO has been the subject of a number of research reports. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on Southern from $80.00 to $77.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. UBS Group downgraded Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $78.00 to $76.00 in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Argus raised their price objective on shares of Southern from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 15th. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Southern from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Southern from $73.00 to $79.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $76.14.

Southern Price Performance

Shares of SO traded down $0.24 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $77.80. The company had a trading volume of 2,359,644 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,569,988. The company’s 50-day moving average is $77.99 and its 200-day moving average is $72.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.65. The company has a market capitalization of $85.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.08, a P/E/G ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.51. The Southern Company has a twelve month low of $61.56 and a twelve month high of $80.84.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The utilities provider reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.13. Southern had a return on equity of 12.07% and a net margin of 16.74%. The firm had revenue of $6.65 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.59 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.79 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 4 EPS for the current year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 20th were given a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 17th. This is an increase from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.70%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is presently 74.42%.

About Southern

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.