Spirit of America Management Corp NY Raises Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Spirit of America Management Corp NY lifted its position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 56.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,400 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,950 shares during the period. Spirit of America Management Corp NY’s holdings in Southern were worth $445,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Mizuho Securities USA LLC lifted its position in Southern by 17,272.6% in the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 14,647,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,320,866,000 after acquiring an additional 14,562,689 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Southern by 8,741.6% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,502,813 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $135,524,000 after purchasing an additional 1,485,816 shares during the period. Synovus Financial Corp increased its stake in shares of Southern by 72.4% during the third quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 3,077,959 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $277,570,000 after acquiring an additional 1,293,072 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Southern by 4.6% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 24,521,339 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,203,386,000 after acquiring an additional 1,075,768 shares during the period. Finally, Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH acquired a new position in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter worth about $51,605,000. 64.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Southern Trading Down 0.9 %

NYSE SO opened at $83.19 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.91. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $83.83 and a 200-day simple moving average of $86.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $91.15 billion, a PE ratio of 19.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.53. The Southern Company has a one year low of $65.80 and a one year high of $94.45.

Southern Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. Southern’s payout ratio is 66.98%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In other Southern news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 88,393 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,592,958.70. The trade was a 1.31 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SO has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on shares of Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Guggenheim lowered shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $89.79.

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.