Waters Parkerson & CO. LLC Raises Stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Waters Parkerson & CO. LLC grew its holdings in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 3.9% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 44,454 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,656 shares during the quarter. Waters Parkerson & CO. LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $3,448,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. purchased a new position in Southern in the 4th quarter worth $31,000. Scarborough Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its stake in shares of Southern by 62.0% in the 1st quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 444 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 170 shares during the last quarter. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Southern by 3,628.6% during the 1st quarter. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 522 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 508 shares during the period. Finally, Cassady Schiller Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Southern by 46.3% in the 4th quarter. Cassady Schiller Wealth Management LLC now owns 556 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 176 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on SO shares. Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Southern from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Mizuho lowered shares of Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $90.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Monday. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Southern from $87.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Barclays raised their target price on Southern from $66.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Southern from $83.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $84.71.

Southern Price Performance

Shares of SO stock opened at $88.87 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66. The stock has a market cap of $97.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.96, a PEG ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 0.52. The business’s fifty day moving average is $86.01 and its 200 day moving average is $78.65. The Southern Company has a twelve month low of $61.56 and a twelve month high of $90.34.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.19. Southern had a net margin of 17.67% and a return on equity of 12.88%. The firm had revenue of $6.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.10 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.79 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 12.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 19th were issued a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 19th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.24%. Southern’s payout ratio is 74.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Southern news, EVP Sterling A. Jr. Spainhour sold 2,380 shares of Southern stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.99, for a total transaction of $211,796.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 12,500 shares in the company, valued at $1,112,375. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, EVP Sterling A. Jr. Spainhour sold 2,380 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.99, for a total transaction of $211,796.20. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 12,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,112,375. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of Southern stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.54, for a total transaction of $587,830.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,467 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,981,575.18. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 27,845 shares of company stock worth $2,266,455 in the last 90 days. 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.