Smith Moore & CO. Acquires 628 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Smith Moore & CO. lifted its stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 3.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 20,896 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 628 shares during the period. Smith Moore & CO.’s holdings in Southern were worth $1,720,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new position in Southern in the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. YANKCOM Partnership bought a new position in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. WFA Asset Management Corp grew its stake in Southern by 84.9% during the fourth quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 429 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 197 shares in the last quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. increased its holdings in Southern by 244.4% during the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 434 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 308 shares during the period. Finally, Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in Southern in the 4th quarter worth approximately $35,000. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Southern

In other news, 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 106,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,946,985.28. The trade was a 23.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.61, for a total value of $100,811.25. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 102,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,148,284.90. The trade was a 1.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 47,855 shares of company stock worth $4,348,784 in the last three months. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Southern Stock Performance

Southern stock opened at $89.07 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $88.14 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $87.34. The Southern Company has a twelve month low of $67.53 and a twelve month high of $94.45. The company has a market capitalization of $97.70 billion, a PE ratio of 22.21, 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.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its 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 company had revenue of $6.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.90 billion. 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. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th were paid a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.23%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. Southern’s payout ratio is 71.82%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group upped 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 target price on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Guggenheim cut Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Morgan Stanley restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Southern in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. 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 investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $91.46.

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.