Flagship Wealth Advisors LLC Makes New Investment in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Flagship Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 800 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $66,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of SO. Cozad Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Southern by 4.7% during the fourth quarter. Cozad Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,350 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $440,000 after purchasing an additional 239 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Southern by 10.0% during the fourth quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 12,685 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,044,000 after purchasing an additional 1,148 shares in the last quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp boosted its position in shares of Southern by 16.5% during the fourth quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp now owns 172,816 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $14,226,000 after purchasing an additional 24,443 shares in the last quarter. First National Advisers LLC boosted its position in shares of Southern by 6.5% during the fourth quarter. First National Advisers LLC now owns 37,193 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,062,000 after purchasing an additional 2,256 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GWN Securities Inc. bought a new position in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter worth $2,688,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Southern

In related news, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 13,236 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,138,296. This represents a 52.35 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were 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 approximately $9,148,284.90. This trade represents a 1.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 47,855 shares of company stock worth $4,348,784 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Scotiabank lifted their price target on shares of Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Guggenheim cut shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price objective 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 analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $90.54.

Southern Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:SO opened at $90.57 on Tuesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $86.07 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $87.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.66. The Southern Company has a one year low of $67.53 and a one year high of $94.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $99.33 billion, a PE ratio of 22.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46.

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 the consensus estimate of $0.51 by ($0.01). The firm 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%. On average, equities analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were paid 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 3.18%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is presently 71.82%.

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.