The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Stake Increased by Cordatus Wealth Management LLC

Cordatus Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 4.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,152 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 262 shares during the period. Cordatus Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $506,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. YANKCOM Partnership acquired a new stake in Southern during the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC boosted its position in Southern by 168.1% during the third quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC now owns 311 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 195 shares during the last quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp boosted its position 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 purchasing an additional 197 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Valley National Advisers Inc. boosted its position in Southern by 244.4% during the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 434 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 308 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Southern

In related news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.90, for a total transaction of $100,503.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 88,393 shares in the company, 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 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 value of $1,250,440.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 13,236 shares in the company, valued at $1,138,296. This represents 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 corporate insiders.

Southern Trading Up 1.5 %

Southern stock opened at $87.78 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.91. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $83.50 and its 200-day simple moving average is $86.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $96.17 billion, a PE ratio of 20.41, a PEG ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 0.53. The Southern Company has a 52 week low of $65.99 and a 52 week high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by ($0.01). Southern had a return on equity of 12.78% and a net margin of 17.87%. Equities research analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be paid a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.28%. Southern’s payout ratio is presently 66.98%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

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.