one8zero8 LLC Makes New $735,000 Investment in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

one8zero8 LLC bought a new stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm bought 8,927 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $735,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new position in Southern during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. YANKCOM Partnership bought a new position in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake in Southern by 168.1% in the third quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC now owns 311 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 195 shares in the last quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp increased its holdings 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 buying an additional 197 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Valley National Advisers Inc. raised its stake in Southern by 244.4% during the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 434 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 308 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SO has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Mizuho boosted their price target on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Scotiabank increased their target price 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. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Guggenheim lowered shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $90.54.

Southern Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of SO stock opened at $90.44 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $99.19 billion, a PE ratio of 22.55, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 Southern Company has a 1 year low of $67.53 and a 1 year high of $94.45. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $85.88 and a two-hundred day moving average of $87.14.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced its 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 company had revenue of $6.34 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.90 billion. As a group, research analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were given a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.18%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 71.82%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In other news, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 13,236 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,138,296. This trade represents a 52.35 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the business’s 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 completion of the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 47,855 shares of company stock valued at $4,348,784. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.