The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Stock Position Boosted by Modern Wealth Management LLC

Modern Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 133.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,096 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 4,050 shares during the quarter. Modern Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $607,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in SO. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in Southern in the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. YANKCOM Partnership acquired a new stake in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new position in Southern during the fourth quarter valued at about $35,000. WFA Asset Management Corp grew its holdings in Southern by 84.9% during the fourth quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 429 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 197 shares during the period. Finally, Valley National Advisers Inc. raised its position in Southern by 244.4% in the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 434 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 308 shares in the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SO has been the topic of several recent research reports. Guggenheim cut shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Scotiabank upped their price target on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Southern in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Mizuho increased their price target on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Southern has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $91.46.

Southern Stock Performance

SO stock opened at $89.00 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $97.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.19, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.67. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $87.07 and a 200 day simple moving average of $87.24. The Southern Company has a 52 week low of $67.53 and a 52 week high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 EPS 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 company had revenue of $6.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.90 billion. Research analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared 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. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 71.82%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of Southern stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 106,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,946,985.28. This represents a 23.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 47,855 shares of company stock worth $4,348,784 in the last three months. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Southern

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.