The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Shares Acquired by Farther Finance Advisors LLC

Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 13.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 25,007 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,879 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $2,059,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. YANKCOM Partnership acquired a new stake in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Southern by 168.1% during 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 raised 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 acquiring an additional 197 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Valley National Advisers Inc. raised its holdings in Southern by 244.4% in the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 434 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 308 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Southern

In related news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,946,985.28. The trade was a 23.16 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, 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 transaction of $1,250,440.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,236 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,138,296. The trade was a 52.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 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.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on SO. Scotiabank raised their target price 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. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Guggenheim cut shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $90.54.

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of SO opened at $89.67 on Friday. 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 firm has a market cap of $98.35 billion, a PE ratio of 22.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $85.71 and its 200-day simple moving average is $87.10. The Southern Company has a 12-month low of $67.53 and a 12-month high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $6.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.90 billion. As a group, equities analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 71.82%.

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.