The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Shares Acquired by Regal Investment Advisors LLC

Regal Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 5.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 30,117 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,689 shares during the quarter. Regal Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $2,479,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new position in Southern in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. YANKCOM Partnership purchased a new position in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. WFA Asset Management Corp boosted its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 197 shares during the last quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. increased its position 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 last quarter. Finally, Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in Southern during the fourth quarter worth approximately $35,000. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 102,090 shares in the company, valued at $9,148,284.90. The trade was a 1.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.12, for a total transaction of $2,997,532.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 106,819 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,946,985.28. The trade was a 23.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Southern Trading Down 0.2 %

NYSE:SO opened at $90.97 on Wednesday. The Southern Company has a one year low of $67.53 and a one year high of $94.45. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $88.96 and its 200 day simple moving average is $87.29. 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 stock has a market cap of $99.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.39.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $6.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.90 billion. Southern had a net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 12.23%. As a group, sell-side 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 declared 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%.

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.