O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC Grows Stock Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 12.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 190,609 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 21,028 shares during the period. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $15,691,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of SO. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in Southern in the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. YANKCOM Partnership acquired a new stake in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter valued at $35,000. WFA Asset Management Corp increased its position 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 valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 197 shares during the period. Finally, Valley National Advisers Inc. raised its stake in 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 last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Southern

In other Southern news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 102,090 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,148,284.90. The trade was a 1.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 47,855 shares of company stock valued at $4,348,784. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Southern Price Performance

SO opened at $91.10 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $99.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.72, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $87.34 and its 200 day moving average price is $87.24. The Southern Company has a 12-month low of $67.53 and a 12-month high of $94.45.

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

Southern Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were issued a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.16%. Southern’s payout ratio is currently 71.82%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on SO shares. Mizuho lifted their target price on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Scotiabank increased their target price on shares of Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Southern in a report on Thursday, March 20th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Guggenheim cut shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $91.46.

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.