Hickory Point Bank & Trust Invests $477,000 in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Hickory Point Bank & Trust acquired a new position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 5,793 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $477,000.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of SO. Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Southern by 8.4% during the 3rd quarter. Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc. now owns 7,019 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $633,000 after buying an additional 544 shares during the last quarter. Capital Advisors Inc. OK lifted its stake in Southern by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Capital Advisors Inc. OK now owns 874,884 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $78,897,000 after purchasing an additional 16,899 shares during the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Southern by 71.5% in the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 22,128 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,996,000 after purchasing an additional 9,222 shares during the last quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC lifted its stake in Southern by 15.4% in the 3rd quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 9,250 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $871,000 after purchasing an additional 1,236 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lmcg Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Southern in the 3rd quarter valued at about $230,000. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Southern

In other Southern news, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 13,236 shares in the company, valued at $1,138,296. This trade represents a 52.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 88,393 shares in the company, valued at $7,592,958.70. This represents a 1.31 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Southern Stock Up 1.7 %

Shares of SO opened at $89.77 on Friday. The Southern Company has a 12 month low of $65.99 and a 12 month high of $94.45. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $84.39 and its 200-day moving average is $86.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $98.46 billion, a PE ratio of 22.39, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.53. 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 announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.51 by ($0.01). Southern had a return on equity of 12.23% and a net margin of 16.47%. The business had revenue of $6.34 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.90 billion. Equities research analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors 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 yield of 3.21%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 71.82%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Morgan Stanley cut 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 note on Friday, November 22nd. Guggenheim downgraded shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, 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 research note on Thursday, December 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $90.54.

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.