Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. Raises Stock Holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 19.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,281 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 878 shares during the period. Ausdal Financial Partners Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $435,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Financial Enhancement Group LLC acquired a new position in Southern in the fourth quarter valued at $326,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Southern by 5.4% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 108,361 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $9,772,000 after buying an additional 5,589 shares during the last quarter. Verity & Verity LLC raised its stake in Southern by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Verity & Verity LLC now owns 201,971 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $16,626,000 after acquiring an additional 5,434 shares during the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its position in Southern by 94.4% during the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 288,679 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $26,033,000 after acquiring an additional 140,151 shares during the period. Finally, Farmers Trust Co. grew its stake in shares of Southern by 31.6% in the 4th quarter. Farmers Trust Co. now owns 48,383 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,983,000 after purchasing an additional 11,605 shares during the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Southern Stock Performance

NYSE SO opened at $90.12 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $87.20 and a 200 day moving average price of $87.26. 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 company has a market capitalization of $98.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.47, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46. The Southern Company has a 1-year low of $67.53 and a 1-year high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 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 analyst estimates of $5.90 billion. Sell-side analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared 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 3.20%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 71.82%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.61, for a total transaction of $100,811.25. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 102,090 shares in the company, valued at $9,148,284.90. This represents a 1.09 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of Southern stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.12, for a total value of $2,997,532.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now 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. Insiders sold a total of 47,855 shares of company stock valued at $4,348,784 in the last 90 days. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on SO. Morgan Stanley restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Southern in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Mizuho lifted their target price on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Guggenheim downgraded shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Southern has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price 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.