5,756 Shares in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Bought by RFG Bristol Wealth Advisors LLC

RFG Bristol Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund bought 5,756 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $474,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Benjamin Edwards Inc. lifted its holdings in Southern by 2,078.6% in the third quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 152,675 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $13,769,000 after buying an additional 145,667 shares during the period. Ascent Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Southern by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 3,607 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $325,000 after purchasing an additional 221 shares during the period. Centiva Capital LP bought a new stake in shares of Southern during the 3rd quarter valued at about $232,000. Hilltop Holdings Inc. grew its stake in Southern by 4.9% during the third quarter. Hilltop Holdings Inc. now owns 20,555 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,854,000 after purchasing an additional 953 shares during the period. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Southern by 12.1% in the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 1,039,294 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $93,780,000 after purchasing an additional 112,132 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Southern Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of Southern stock opened at $91.82 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $87.65 and a 200 day simple moving average of $87.29. The Southern Company has a 12-month low of $67.53 and a 12-month high of $94.45. The company has a market capitalization of $100.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) 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 firm had revenue of $6.34 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.90 billion. On average, sell-side 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were given 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 dividend yield of 3.14%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is currently 71.82%.

Insider Transactions at Southern

In related news, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 106,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,946,985.28. This trade represents a 23.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 47,855 shares of company stock worth $4,348,784 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Guggenheim downgraded Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Southern in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. One investment 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the company 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.