Richardson Financial Services Inc. Has $58,000 Holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Richardson Financial Services Inc. grew its position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 35.6% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 751 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 197 shares during the period. Richardson Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $58,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Southern in the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Scarborough Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter worth approximately $31,000. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Southern by 62.0% during the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 444 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 170 shares during the period. TruNorth Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Southern during the second quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Finally, Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Southern by 3,628.6% in the 1st quarter. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 522 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 508 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Southern

In other Southern news, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.54, for a total value of $587,830.10. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,467 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,981,575.18. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Southern news, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.54, for a total value of $587,830.10. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 44,467 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,981,575.18. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Anthony L. Wilson sold 6,900 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, July 5th. The shares were 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 owns 85,309 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,620,831.49. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 27,845 shares of company stock worth $2,266,455 in the last ninety days. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on SO shares. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Southern from $77.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Southern from $83.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Southern from $87.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Barclays increased their price objective on Southern from $66.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Mizuho cut shares of Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $90.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Monday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $84.71.

Southern Stock Down 0.2 %

Southern stock opened at $88.87 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $97.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.96, a P/E/G ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 0.52. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $86.01 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $78.65. The Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $61.56 and a fifty-two week high of $90.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.66.

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

Southern Dividend Announcement

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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 19th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 74.42%.

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.