Wealth Quarterback LLC Has $395,000 Holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Wealth Quarterback LLC cut its position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 4.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 4,802 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 241 shares during the period. Wealth Quarterback LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $395,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Creative Planning boosted its holdings in Southern by 3.4% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 368,646 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $33,245,000 after purchasing an additional 12,011 shares during the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC boosted its stake in Southern by 44.7% in the 3rd quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 4,063 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $366,000 after purchasing an additional 1,256 shares during the period. Inspire Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Southern in the third quarter valued at approximately $256,000. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. lifted its stake in Southern by 5.5% in the 3rd quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 65,629 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,918,000 after purchasing an additional 3,443 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its position in shares of Southern by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 1,037,157 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $93,531,000 after purchasing an additional 22,330 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Southern Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE:SO opened at $85.72 on Monday. The Southern Company has a 1 year low of $65.80 and a 1 year high of $94.45. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $83.38 and its 200-day moving average price is $86.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.66. The company has a market cap of $93.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.93, a PEG ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.53.

Southern Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be given a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.36%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 66.98%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Southern news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of Southern stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.90, for a total transaction of $100,503.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 88,393 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,592,958.70. The trade was a 1.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 13,236 shares in the company, valued at $1,138,296. The trade was a 52.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SO has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Guggenheim lowered Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Scotiabank boosted their price target on shares of Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Mizuho increased their target price on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Southern currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $89.79.

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.