Ipsen Advisor Group LLC Purchases Shares of 2,941 The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Ipsen Advisor Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 2,941 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $242,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in SO. Larson Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Southern by 125.0% during the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 7,871 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $710,000 after buying an additional 4,373 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Southern by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 108,361 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $9,772,000 after acquiring an additional 5,589 shares during the last quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. boosted its position in shares of Southern by 4.9% during the third quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 21,992 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,983,000 after buying an additional 1,031 shares during the last quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Southern by 4.3% during the third quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC now owns 3,011 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $272,000 after acquiring an additional 123 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group grew its position in shares of Southern by 7.6% during the 3rd quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 9,945 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $897,000 after acquiring an additional 703 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of Southern stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 106,819 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,946,985.28. This trade represents a 23.16 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 in the company, valued at $9,148,284.90. This represents a 1.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 47,855 shares of company stock valued at $4,348,784. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Southern Price Performance

NYSE:SO opened at $87.73 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $86.94 and its two-hundred day moving average is $87.23. 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 firm has a market cap of $96.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.88, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46. The Southern Company has a one year low of $67.53 and a one year high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 earnings per share 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 analyst estimates of $5.90 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.23% and a net margin of 16.47%. Research analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were issued a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.28%. Southern’s payout ratio is 71.82%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Southern from $88.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Guggenheim cut Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $91.46.

About Southern

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.