Allen Capital Group LLC Has $1.74 Million Stock Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Allen Capital Group LLC raised its position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 17.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 21,075 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,059 shares during the period. Allen Capital Group LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $1,735,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Driehaus Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Southern in the second quarter valued at approximately $468,000. Ascent Group LLC raised its holdings in Southern by 15.3% in the 2nd quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 3,386 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $263,000 after acquiring an additional 449 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its position in Southern by 8.5% during the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 184,216 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $14,290,000 after acquiring an additional 14,399 shares during the last quarter. Regal Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Southern by 4.4% during the second quarter. Regal Investment Advisors LLC now owns 28,841 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,237,000 after acquiring an additional 1,206 shares during the period. Finally, 3Chopt Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southern in the second quarter valued at about $297,000. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Southern

In other Southern news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of Southern stock in a transaction 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,592,958.70. The trade was a 1.31 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have issued reports on SO shares. Guggenheim lowered Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on shares of Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered 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 equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $90.14.

Southern Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of SO stock opened at $84.25 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $92.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.56, a P/E/G ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.52. The Southern Company has a 12-month low of $65.80 and a 12-month high of $94.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $84.15 and a 200 day moving average price of $86.57.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.10. Southern had a return on equity of 12.78% and a net margin of 17.87%. The business had revenue of $7.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.14 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.42 EPS. Southern’s revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.42%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 66.98%.

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.