Pinnacle Associates Ltd. Acquires 3,226 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Pinnacle Associates Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SOFree Report) by 2.8% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 119,564 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,226 shares during the period. Pinnacle Associates Ltd.’s holdings in Southern were worth $10,782,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of SO. West Branch Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Southern by 34.7% in the third quarter. West Branch Capital LLC now owns 501 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 129 shares during the last quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Southern in the second quarter valued at about $39,000. Cedar Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Southern by 63.2% in the first quarter. Cedar Wealth Management LLC now owns 545 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 211 shares during the last quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division purchased a new stake in shares of Southern in the first quarter valued at about $39,000. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc raised its holdings in shares of Southern by 31.8% in the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 585 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 141 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on SO shares. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Southern from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Southern from $87.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Southern from $80.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Southern from $78.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $89.07.

Check Out Our Latest Analysis on SO

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In other Southern news, EVP Sterling A. Jr. Spainhour sold 2,380 shares of Southern stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.99, for a total transaction of $211,796.20. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 12,500 shares in the company, valued at $1,112,375. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Southern news, EVP Sterling A. Jr. Spainhour sold 2,380 shares of Southern stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.99, for a total transaction of $211,796.20. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 12,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,112,375. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of Southern stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.54, for a total transaction of $587,830.10. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,467 shares in the company, valued at $3,981,575.18. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 38,945 shares of company stock worth $3,488,826 over the last three months. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Southern Price Performance

SO stock opened at $89.38 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $89.60 and a 200-day moving average of $82.95. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $97.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.29 and a beta of 0.52.

Southern (NYSE:SOGet Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.10 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.19. Southern had a net margin of 17.67% and a return on equity of 12.88%. The company had revenue of $6.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.10 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.79 earnings per share. Southern’s revenue was up 12.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be given a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.22%. Southern’s payout ratio is presently 68.57%.

About Southern

(Free Report)

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.

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Institutional Ownership by Quarter for Southern (NYSE:SO)

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