Capital Analysts LLC Raises Stock Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Capital Analysts LLC increased its position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 90.8% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 476 shares during the period. Capital Analysts LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $82,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southern in the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. YANKCOM Partnership acquired a new position in Southern during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. WFA Asset Management Corp lifted its stake in shares of Southern by 84.9% in the 4th quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 429 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 197 shares during the period. Valley National Advisers Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Southern by 244.4% in the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 434 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 308 shares during the period. Finally, Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southern in the 4th quarter worth approximately $35,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Southern news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.12, for a total transaction of $2,997,532.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 106,819 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,946,985.28. This trade represents a 23.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.00, for a total value of $1,250,440.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 13,236 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,138,296. This trade represents a 52.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 47,855 shares of company stock worth $4,348,784. 0.16% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Southern Stock Performance

SO opened at $90.77 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $89.87 and its 200-day simple moving average is $87.35. The Southern Company has a 1 year low of $73.20 and a 1 year high of $94.45. The stock has a market cap of $99.86 billion, a PE ratio of 22.64, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.51 by ($0.01). Southern had a return on equity of 12.23% and a net margin of 16.47%. The company had revenue of $6.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.90 billion. Sell-side analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be paid a $0.74 dividend. This is a positive change from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.26%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 73.82%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently weighed in on SO shares. Guggenheim cut shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Southern from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $94.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Mizuho raised their target price on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on Southern from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Southern has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $92.54.

About Southern

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.