OmniStar Financial Group Inc. Acquires 1,756 Shares of Southern Company (The) $SO

OmniStar Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 4.8% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 38,055 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,756 shares during the quarter. Southern makes up 2.6% of OmniStar Financial Group Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest position. OmniStar Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $3,495,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS increased its position in Southern by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 2,120,654 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $194,740,000 after acquiring an additional 29,904 shares in the last quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Southern by 2.2% during the second quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC now owns 1,471,380 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $135,117,000 after purchasing an additional 32,308 shares during the last quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Southern by 23.9% during the second quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 203,309 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $18,670,000 after purchasing an additional 39,186 shares during the last quarter. CFO4Life Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Southern by 6.6% in the second quarter. CFO4Life Group LLC now owns 2,551 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $234,000 after purchasing an additional 159 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Advisors Capital Management LLC raised its position in Southern by 3.7% in the 2nd quarter. Advisors Capital Management LLC now owns 300,348 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $27,581,000 after purchasing an additional 10,722 shares during the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have commented on SO shares. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $99.00 price objective on shares of Southern in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. KeyCorp raised their price target on Southern from $78.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 15th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Southern from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $102.50 price objective (up from $99.50) on shares of Southern in a report on Friday, October 17th. Finally, Cowen initiated coverage on shares of Southern in a research report on Wednesday, October 15th. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $99.56.

Southern Stock Down 0.6%

Shares of Southern stock opened at $90.65 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $94.11 and a 200 day simple moving average of $92.50. The stock has a market cap of $99.81 billion, a PE ratio of 23.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69. Southern Company has a 12 month low of $80.46 and a 12 month high of $100.83.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The utilities provider reported $1.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $7.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.04 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.09% and a net margin of 15.10%.The company’s revenue was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.39 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 17th will be issued a $0.74 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 17th. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.3%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 73.27%.

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.