Focus Partners Wealth Raises Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Focus Partners Wealth raised its holdings in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 30.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,298,212 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 299,968 shares during the period. Focus Partners Wealth owned approximately 0.12% of Southern worth $107,002,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of SO. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Southern by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,351,025 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $121,835,000 after purchasing an additional 52,799 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in Southern by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 58,881 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,842,000 after buying an additional 1,816 shares during the period. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. increased its holdings in Southern by 85.5% during the fourth quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 7,920 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $652,000 after buying an additional 3,650 shares during the last quarter. Hilltop National Bank raised its position in Southern by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Hilltop National Bank now owns 28,074 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,311,000 after acquiring an additional 526 shares during the period. Finally, Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Southern by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 29,063 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,392,000 after acquiring an additional 886 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Southern from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $94.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Southern in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Guggenheim restated a “neutral” rating and set a $93.00 target price on shares of Southern in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Southern has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $93.07.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.00, for a total transaction of $1,250,440.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 13,236 shares in the company, valued at $1,138,296. The trade was a 52.35 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of Southern stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.61, for a total value of $100,811.25. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 102,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,148,284.90. This trade represents a 1.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 47,855 shares of company stock valued at $4,348,784 over the last three months. 0.16% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Southern Stock Up 0.1 %

NYSE SO opened at $90.37 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $90.24 and a 200-day moving average price of $87.36. The Southern Company has a one year low of $76.64 and a one year high of $94.45. The company has a market capitalization of $99.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.54, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.67.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.23 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.03. Southern had a net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 12.23%. The firm had revenue of $7.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.17 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.03 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th will be given a $0.74 dividend. This is an increase from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.28%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 70.64%.

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.