Mainstay Capital Management LLC ADV Increases Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Mainstay Capital Management LLC ADV boosted its holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 1.3% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 41,217 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 514 shares during the quarter. Southern comprises about 0.5% of Mainstay Capital Management LLC ADV’s portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest holding. Mainstay Capital Management LLC ADV’s holdings in Southern were worth $3,393,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of SO. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Southern by 168.1% during the third quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC now owns 311 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 195 shares during the last quarter. YANKCOM Partnership purchased a new stake in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. WFA Asset Management Corp grew its holdings in shares of Southern by 84.9% during the fourth quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 429 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 197 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Valley National Advisers Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Southern by 244.4% during the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 434 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 308 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Southern

In other Southern news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of Southern stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.90, for a total value of $100,503.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 88,393 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,592,958.70. This trade represents a 1.31 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of Southern stock in a transaction 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 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 corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on SO shares. Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective 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. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Guggenheim downgraded shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Southern currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $90.54.

Southern Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of SO stock opened at $88.46 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $96.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.06, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.53. The Southern Company has a one year low of $65.99 and a one year high of $94.45. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $83.70 and its 200-day moving average price is $86.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.66.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced 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). The firm had revenue of $6.34 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.90 billion. Southern had a net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 12.23%. Sell-side analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.26%. Southern’s payout ratio is 71.82%.

Southern 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.