Blueprint Investment Partners LLC Has $241,000 Stock Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Blueprint Investment Partners LLC lowered its position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 7.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,929 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 250 shares during the quarter. Blueprint Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $241,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. YANKCOM Partnership acquired a new stake in Southern during the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. WFA Asset Management Corp grew its stake in Southern by 84.9% in the fourth quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 429 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares in the last quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. increased its position in Southern by 244.4% in the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 434 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 308 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter worth about $35,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Southern Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of SO stock opened at $89.21 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $97.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.25, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46. 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 Southern Company has a 12-month low of $67.53 and a 12-month high of $94.45. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $86.69 and a 200 day moving average price of $87.24.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by ($0.01). Southern had a net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 12.23%. The business had revenue of $6.34 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.90 billion. Research analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were issued 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 yield of 3.23%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is currently 71.82%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.00, for a total value of $1,250,440.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,236 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,138,296. This represents a 52.35 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing 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 stock was sold at an average price of $93.12, for a total transaction of $2,997,532.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 106,819 shares in the company, valued at $9,946,985.28. The trade was a 23.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 47,855 shares of company stock valued at $4,348,784. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SO has been the subject of several recent research reports. Scotiabank boosted their target price 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. Guggenheim downgraded Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Southern from $88.00 to $91.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Mizuho raised 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Southern presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $91.46.

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.