Wayfinding Financial LLC Makes New $321,000 Investment in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Wayfinding Financial LLC purchased a new position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 3,903 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $321,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. YANKCOM Partnership acquired a new position in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter worth about $35,000. WFA Asset Management Corp lifted its position in shares of Southern by 84.9% during the 4th quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 429 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Valley National Advisers Inc. lifted its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 308 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Southern

In other news, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was 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 $1,138,296. The trade was a 52.35 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 102,090 shares in the company, valued at $9,148,284.90. The trade was a 1.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 47,855 shares of company stock valued at $4,348,784 in the last three months. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Southern Trading Up 0.5 %

SO stock opened at $90.01 on Friday. The Southern Company has a 1-year low of $67.53 and a 1-year high of $94.45. The firm has a market cap of $98.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.45, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46. The business’s 50 day moving average is $86.53 and its 200-day moving average is $87.24. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.90 billion. Equities analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were paid a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.20%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is currently 71.82%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SO has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Southern from $88.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Guggenheim cut Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price objective on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. One 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 data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $91.00.

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.