Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich Purchases Shares of 38,000 The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich purchased a new stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 38,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,133,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new position in Southern in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. YANKCOM Partnership acquired a new position in Southern in the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Southern by 168.1% in the third quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC now owns 311 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 195 shares in the last quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp boosted its stake in Southern by 84.9% in the fourth quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 429 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Valley National Advisers Inc. boosted its stake in Southern by 244.4% in the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 434 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 308 shares in the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Southern Trading Up 3.2 %

NYSE SO opened at $91.54 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $85.07 and a 200 day simple moving average of $87.00. The company has a market capitalization of $100.40 billion, a PE ratio of 22.83, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60. The Southern Company has a 12 month low of $67.53 and a 12 month high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released 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 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. Research analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were issued a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.15%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 71.82%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on SO shares. Scotiabank upped their price target on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Guggenheim lowered Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Mizuho upped their price target on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Southern currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $90.54.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.61, for a total transaction 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 approximately $9,148,284.90. This trade represents a 1.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 13,236 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.