Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC Purchases 1,196 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC raised its holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 21.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,763 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,196 shares during the quarter. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $557,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SO. Insight Inv LLC boosted its holdings in Southern by 8.4% in the fourth quarter. Insight Inv LLC now owns 9,030 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $743,000 after purchasing an additional 700 shares in the last quarter. Nikulski Financial Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Southern by 10.1% during the 4th quarter. Nikulski Financial Inc. now owns 4,023 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $331,000 after acquiring an additional 368 shares in the last quarter. CFS Investment Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of Southern by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. CFS Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 11,940 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $983,000 after acquiring an additional 225 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Southern by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 20,091 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,654,000 after acquiring an additional 773 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AM Investment Strategies LLC lifted its holdings in Southern by 10.2% in the 4th quarter. AM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 89,441 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $7,363,000 after purchasing an additional 8,261 shares during the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SO has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target 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 cut their target price on shares of Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Guggenheim downgraded Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Barclays lifted their price objective on Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their target price on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $90.14.

Insider Activity at Southern

In other news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of the business’s 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 88,393 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,592,958.70. The trade was a 1.31 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Southern Stock Down 3.3 %

Shares of SO stock opened at $83.67 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $91.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.66. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $84.25 and a 200 day moving average price of $86.55. The Southern Company has a one year low of $65.80 and a one year high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.10. Southern had a net margin of 17.87% and a return on equity of 12.78%. The business had revenue of $7.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.14 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.42 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4.04 earnings per share for the current 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 given a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.44%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 66.98%.

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.