1,330 Shares in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Acquired by Hopwood Financial Services Inc.

Hopwood Financial Services Inc. bought a new stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 1,330 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $109,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its position in Southern by 13.0% in the 4th quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 25,007 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,059,000 after buying an additional 2,879 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Southern by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 27,468 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,261,000 after acquiring an additional 550 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Southern by 20.3% in the fourth quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 65,182 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,366,000 after acquiring an additional 10,999 shares during the period. Warwick Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $234,000. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC grew its position in Southern by 44.8% in the 4th quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 1,504,693 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $123,866,000 after purchasing an additional 465,399 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SO has been the topic of a number of research reports. Guggenheim downgraded Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. 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 research note on Friday, November 22nd. Scotiabank increased their price objective 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. Finally, Mizuho boosted their target price 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. 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 company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $90.54.

Southern Stock Performance

NYSE SO opened at $90.07 on Wednesday. The Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $67.53 and a fifty-two week high of $94.45. The company has a market cap of $98.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.46, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.67. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $85.43 and its 200-day moving average price is $87.07.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.51 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $6.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.90 billion. Southern had a net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 12.23%. Sell-side analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were given a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.20%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 71.82%.

Insider Transactions at Southern

In other news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.61, for a total transaction of $100,811.25. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 102,090 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,148,284.90. This trade represents a 1.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.12, for a total transaction of $2,997,532.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 106,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,946,985.28. This trade represents a 23.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 47,855 shares of company stock worth $4,348,784. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.