Sompo Asset Management Co. Ltd. Has $248,000 Stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Sompo Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 10.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,200 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the quarter. Sompo Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Southern were worth $248,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Summit Trail Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Southern by 3.2% in the second quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC now owns 8,709 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $676,000 after purchasing an additional 274 shares during the last quarter. Ranch Capital Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Southern by 0.8% in the second quarter. Ranch Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 18,107 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,405,000 after purchasing an additional 145 shares during the last quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Southern by 49.4% in the second quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 82,848 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $6,426,000 after purchasing an additional 27,397 shares during the last quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp grew its position in shares of Southern by 2.8% in the second quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp now owns 82,600 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $6,407,000 after purchasing an additional 2,275 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Waters Parkerson & CO. LLC grew its position in Southern by 3.9% during the second quarter. Waters Parkerson & CO. LLC now owns 44,454 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,448,000 after buying an additional 1,656 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Anthony L. Wilson sold 6,900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 85,309 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,620,831.49. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Anthony L. Wilson sold 6,900 shares of Southern stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.61, for a total value of $535,509.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 85,309 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,620,831.49. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Sloane N. Drake sold 12,000 shares of Southern stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.61, for a total value of $931,320.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,771 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,301,597.31. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 27,845 shares of company stock valued at $2,266,455 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Southern Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of SO opened at $89.70 on Friday. The Southern Company has a 52 week low of $61.56 and a 52 week high of $90.34. The stock has a market capitalization of $98.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.18, a PEG ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.91. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $86.20 and a 200-day moving average of $78.88.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.19. The business had revenue of $6.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.10 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.88% and a net margin of 17.67%. Southern’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.79 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 4.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Investors of record on Monday, August 19th were given a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 19th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is currently 74.42%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on SO. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Southern from $77.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. UBS Group increased their price target on Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday. Bank of America increased their price target on Southern from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Southern from $83.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Southern from $87.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $86.33.

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.