Savvy Advisors Inc. Has $253,000 Stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Savvy Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 27.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,070 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 666 shares during the period. Savvy Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $253,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in Southern in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. YANKCOM Partnership bought a new stake in shares of Southern in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. WFA Asset Management Corp lifted its stake in Southern by 84.9% in the 4th 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. Valley National Advisers Inc. grew its holdings in Southern by 244.4% during 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 during the period. Finally, Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in Southern during the fourth quarter worth approximately $35,000. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently commented on SO shares. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Southern in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Guggenheim cut shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Southern from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $94.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $92.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In other Southern news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.61, for a total transaction of $100,811.25. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 102,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,148,284.90. The trade was a 1.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the business’s 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 sale, 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 47,855 shares of company stock worth $4,348,784 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Southern Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SO opened at $90.97 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $88.96 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $87.29. The stock has a market capitalization of $99.77 billion, a PE ratio of 22.69, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.66. The Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $67.53 and a fifty-two week high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $6.34 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.90 billion. As a group, equities analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th were paid a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.17%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 71.82%.

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.