Raymond James Trust N.A. Purchases 25,462 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Raymond James Trust N.A. lifted its position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 22.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 140,100 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 25,462 shares during the quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A.’s holdings in Southern were worth $12,634,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Southern by 1,361.6% in the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 3,201 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $229,000 after buying an additional 2,982 shares in the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Southern by 241.7% in the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 44,240 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,173,000 after acquiring an additional 31,292 shares in the last quarter. Pitcairn Co. lifted its stake in shares of Southern by 23.1% during the 1st quarter. Pitcairn Co. now owns 4,695 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $337,000 after purchasing an additional 881 shares during the last quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Southern by 16.2% during the first quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 17,942 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,287,000 after purchasing an additional 2,508 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors grew its stake in Southern by 35.0% in the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 1,929,980 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $138,457,000 after purchasing an additional 500,000 shares during the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In related 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 value of $2,689,200.00. Following the sale, 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of Southern stock in a transaction on Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.54, for a total transaction of $587,830.10. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,467 shares in the company, valued at $3,981,575.18. This represents a 12.86 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Southern from $78.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Guggenheim lifted their price target on shares of Southern from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Southern from $77.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Southern from $80.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Southern currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $89.27.

Southern Stock Up 0.2 %

SO stock opened at $88.14 on Friday. 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 firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $89.77 and its 200-day simple moving average is $84.60. 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 $96.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 0.52.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 return on equity of 12.78% and a net margin of 17.87%. The company’s revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.42 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.27%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.