Modera Wealth Management LLC Has $981,000 Holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Modera Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 33.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,913 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,974 shares during the quarter. Modera Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $981,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Southern by 206.6% in the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 1,263 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $104,000 after buying an additional 851 shares in the last quarter. Bailard Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Southern by 11.2% in the 4th quarter. Bailard Inc. now owns 43,501 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,581,000 after acquiring an additional 4,394 shares during the last quarter. Norden Group LLC lifted its position in Southern by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Norden Group LLC now owns 8,124 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $669,000 after acquiring an additional 294 shares in the last quarter. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in Southern during the 4th quarter valued at about $35,000. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Southern by 30.0% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 22,551 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,858,000 after purchasing an additional 5,210 shares in the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Southern

In other Southern news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.90, for a total transaction of $100,503.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 88,393 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,592,958.70. The trade was a 1.31 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,236 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,138,296. The trade was a 52.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SO has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Scotiabank raised their target price on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Mizuho upped their target price 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, Guggenheim lowered shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Southern presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $90.54.

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of SO stock opened at $90.77 on Tuesday. The Southern Company has a 52 week low of $66.62 and a 52 week high of $94.45. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $84.54 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $86.92. The firm has a market cap of $99.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.64, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.53. 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 quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.51 by ($0.01). Southern had a net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 12.23%. The firm had revenue of $6.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.90 billion. As a group, equities analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be issued a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.17%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 71.82%.

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.