Lloyd Advisory Services LLC. Lowers Holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

12 Oct 2024, 17:02 by Danessa Lincoln · The Markets Daily

Lloyd Advisory Services LLC. decreased its holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO – Free Report) by 22.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,740 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,109 shares during the quarter. Lloyd Advisory Services LLC.’s holdings in Southern were worth $337,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Scarborough Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its holdings in shares of Southern by 62.0% during the 1st 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. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Southern by 3,628.6% during the 1st quarter. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 522 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 508 shares during the period. Finally, Richardson Financial Services Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter worth about $39,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO James Y. Kerr II sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.64, for a total transaction of $2,689,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 145,088 shares in the company, valued at $13,005,688.32. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 44,467 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,981,575.18. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO James Y. Kerr II sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, October 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.64, for a total value of $2,689,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 145,088 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,005,688.32. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 38,945 shares of company stock worth $3,488,826 in the last three months. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. UBS Group upped their price target on Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Southern in a report on Friday, September 20th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $94.00 price target for the company. Guggenheim upped their price target on Southern from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Southern from $87.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Southern from $83.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Southern has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $88.27.

View Our Latest Report on SO

Southern Stock Performance

SO stock opened at $88.98 on Friday. 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 firm has a market cap of $97.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.99, a P/E/G ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.52. The Southern Company has a 12-month low of $64.53 and a 12-month high of $91.86. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $88.31 and its 200 day simple moving average is $80.92.

Southern (NYSE:SO – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.19. The business had revenue of $6.46 billion for 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%. The business’s revenue was up 12.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.79 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4.02 EPS for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Investors of record on Monday, August 19th were paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 19th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.24%. Southern’s payout ratio is currently 74.42%.

Southern Company Profile

(Free Report)