Marietta Investment Partners LLC Buys New Shares in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Marietta Investment Partners LLC bought a new stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund bought 4,028 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $332,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Intellus Advisors LLC bought a new position in Southern in the fourth quarter valued at $239,000. Forefront Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Southern in the fourth quarter valued at $240,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC acquired a new stake in Southern in the fourth quarter valued at $112,000. Mindset Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Southern by 6.0% in the fourth quarter. Mindset Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,313 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $355,000 after acquiring an additional 244 shares during the last quarter. Finally, 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Southern by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 11,251 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $926,000 after acquiring an additional 158 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on SO shares. Guggenheim cut shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Southern from $88.00 to $91.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Mizuho increased their price target 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, UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Southern currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $91.46.

Southern Price Performance

Shares of Southern stock opened at $89.21 on Friday. The Southern Company has a twelve month low of $67.53 and a twelve month high of $94.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $86.69 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $87.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $97.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued 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). Southern had a return on equity of 12.23% and a net margin of 16.47%. The business had revenue of $6.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.90 billion. Analysts forecast 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. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is currently 71.82%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In related news, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of Southern stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.00, for a total transaction of $1,250,440.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,236 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,138,296. The trade was a 52.35 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of Southern stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.12, for a total transaction of $2,997,532.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 106,819 shares in the company, valued at $9,946,985.28. This trade represents a 23.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 47,855 shares of company stock valued at $4,348,784 in the last ninety days. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Southern Company 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.