Linscomb Wealth Inc. Has $902,000 Stock Holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Linscomb Wealth Inc. raised its stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 18.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,955 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,704 shares during the quarter. Linscomb Wealth Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $902,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Southern by 23.6% in the third quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC now owns 3,436 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $310,000 after acquiring an additional 657 shares in the last quarter. Pacific Wealth Strategies Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Southern by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. Pacific Wealth Strategies Group Inc. now owns 18,287 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,649,000 after purchasing an additional 743 shares during the period. Stephens Inc. AR grew its position in shares of Southern by 17.6% during the 3rd quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 259,420 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $23,394,000 after purchasing an additional 38,800 shares in the last quarter. Lebenthal Global Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Southern by 92.4% during the third quarter. Lebenthal Global Advisors LLC now owns 12,681 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,144,000 after purchasing an additional 6,089 shares during the period. Finally, Fonville Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Southern by 6.1% in the third quarter. Fonville Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,575 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $413,000 after buying an additional 265 shares in the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of Southern stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.90, for a total value of $100,503.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 13,236 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,138,296. This represents a 52.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Southern Stock Performance

NYSE SO opened at $89.77 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $84.39 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $86.90. The stock has a market cap of $98.46 billion, a PE ratio of 22.39, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.67. The Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $65.99 and a fifty-two week high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued 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). The firm had revenue of $6.34 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.90 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.23% and a net margin of 16.47%. On average, equities analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.21%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is presently 71.82%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SO has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Mizuho raised their price objective on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Guggenheim cut Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. 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 note on Friday, November 1st. Scotiabank increased their price objective 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of 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 research 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. According to MarketBeat, Southern has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $90.54.

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.