The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Stock Position Raised by Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC

Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC lifted its holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 2.3% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 94,033 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,111 shares during the quarter. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $7,741,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Sowell Financial Services LLC boosted its position in shares of Southern by 15.3% in the fourth quarter. Sowell Financial Services LLC now owns 30,209 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,487,000 after buying an additional 4,015 shares during the period. Schaper Benz & Wise Investment Counsel Inc. WI boosted its position in Southern by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Schaper Benz & Wise Investment Counsel Inc. WI now owns 63,906 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,261,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000 shares during the last quarter. Amundi boosted its position in Southern by 11.4% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 2,780,137 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $230,807,000 after purchasing an additional 284,022 shares during the last quarter. Naviter Wealth LLC boosted its position in Southern by 21.8% during the fourth quarter. Naviter Wealth LLC now owns 29,820 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,455,000 after purchasing an additional 5,337 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lifeworks Advisors LLC boosted its position in Southern by 1,057.6% during the fourth quarter. Lifeworks Advisors LLC now owns 64,326 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,295,000 after purchasing an additional 58,769 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Insider Transactions at Southern

In related news, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 13,236 shares in the company, valued at $1,138,296. The trade was a 52.35 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, 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 transaction of $100,811.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 102,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,148,284.90. This trade represents a 1.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Southern Trading Up 3.2 %

Shares of SO opened at $91.54 on Friday. The Southern Company has a 12-month low of $67.53 and a 12-month high of $94.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $100.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.83, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $85.07 and its 200 day moving average price is $87.00.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released 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 analyst estimates of $5.90 billion. Southern had a net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 12.23%. As a group, research analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were issued a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. Southern’s payout ratio is 71.82%.

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.