The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Shares Bought by Jacobi Capital Management LLC

Jacobi Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 0.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 27,737 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 146 shares during the period. Jacobi Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $2,283,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC raised its position in shares of Southern by 15.9% during the 4th quarter. Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC now owns 895 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $74,000 after purchasing an additional 123 shares during the last quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Southern by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 81,991 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,749,000 after purchasing an additional 3,791 shares during the last quarter. Xcel Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Southern by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Xcel Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,776 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $722,000 after purchasing an additional 147 shares during the last quarter. Providence First Trust Co raised its position in shares of Southern by 641.4% during the 4th quarter. Providence First Trust Co now owns 18,461 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,520,000 after purchasing an additional 15,971 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Southern by 5.5% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 114,289 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $9,408,000 after acquiring an additional 5,928 shares during the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have weighed in on SO shares. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. Scotiabank boosted their price target on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Mizuho boosted their price target on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Guggenheim downgraded Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $90.54.

Southern Stock Up 1.7 %

Shares of Southern stock opened at $89.77 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $84.39 and a 200 day moving average price of $86.90. 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 Southern Company has a twelve month low of $65.99 and a twelve month high of $94.45. The stock has a market cap of $98.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.53.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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). Southern had a return on equity of 12.23% and a net margin of 16.47%. The business had revenue of $6.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.90 billion. Equities research analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be given a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.21%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 71.82%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, 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 value of $100,503.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 88,393 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,592,958.70. This represents a 1.31 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, 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 transaction of $1,250,440.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.