2,913 Shares in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Acquired by Forefront Wealth Management Inc.

Forefront Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 2,913 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $240,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SO. GSA Capital Partners LLP purchased a new position in Southern during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $302,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Southern in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $8,439,000. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI grew its stake in shares of Southern by 15.1% in the 3rd quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 20,723 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,869,000 after purchasing an additional 2,725 shares during the last quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp grew its stake in shares of Southern by 27.3% in the 3rd quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp now owns 105,153 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $9,483,000 after purchasing an additional 22,553 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Southern by 13.2% in the 3rd quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 45,192 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,075,000 after purchasing an additional 5,266 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have weighed in on SO shares. UBS Group lifted their target price on Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday. Guggenheim downgraded Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Southern from $88.00 to $91.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Scotiabank raised their price target on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Mizuho raised their price target on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $91.46.

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of SO stock opened at $89.21 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $86.69 and a 200 day moving average price of $87.26. The stock has a market cap of $97.84 billion, a PE ratio of 22.25, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46. The Southern Company has a 1 year low of $67.53 and a 1 year high of $94.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.67.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.51 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $6.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.90 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.23% and a net margin of 16.47%. Sell-side analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.23%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 71.82%.

Insider Transactions at Southern

In other news, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of Southern stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 13,236 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,138,296. The trade was a 52.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of Southern stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.12, for a total value of $2,997,532.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 106,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,946,985.28. This represents a 23.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 47,855 shares of company stock valued at $4,348,784 over the last three months. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.