Stanley Laman Group Ltd. Raises Stock Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Stanley Laman Group Ltd. increased its stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 8.9% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 3,534 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 288 shares during the quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd.’s holdings in Southern were worth $291,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in Southern in the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Southern by 168.1% during the 3rd quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC now owns 311 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 195 shares during the last quarter. YANKCOM Partnership acquired a new stake in Southern during the 4th quarter worth $26,000. WFA Asset Management Corp boosted its stake in Southern by 84.9% during the 4th quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 429 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Valley National Advisers Inc. boosted its stake in Southern by 244.4% during the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 434 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 308 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Southern Trading Down 0.0 %

NYSE SO opened at $86.79 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $83.35 and its two-hundred day moving average is $86.77. The Southern Company has a 12 month low of $65.80 and a 12 month high of $94.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $95.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.18, a PEG ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.53.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be given a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.32%. Southern’s payout ratio is currently 66.98%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SO has been the topic of several recent research reports. Scotiabank lifted 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. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on shares of Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Guggenheim cut shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Mizuho lifted 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five 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 an average price target of $89.79.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In other Southern news, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $1,138,296. This represents a 52.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of the company’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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 88,393 shares in the company, valued at $7,592,958.70. The trade was a 1.31 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.