Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. Acquires New Stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. bought a new position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 2,406 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $198,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in Southern by 5.5% in the third quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 16,328 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,472,000 after acquiring an additional 847 shares during the last quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management boosted its holdings in shares of Southern by 22.2% in the 3rd quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 13,653 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,231,000 after purchasing an additional 2,476 shares in the last quarter. Annex Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Southern during the 3rd quarter valued at about $228,000. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA raised its holdings in shares of Southern by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA now owns 7,951 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $717,000 after buying an additional 247 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Koshinski Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Southern by 17.2% in the third quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. now owns 17,276 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,558,000 after buying an additional 2,532 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Southern news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.90, for a total transaction of $100,503.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 88,393 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,592,958.70. This trade represents a 1.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have commented on SO shares. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on shares of Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Scotiabank increased their target price 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 lifted their price target on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Southern has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $89.79.

Southern Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of Southern stock opened at $84.53 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66. The Southern Company has a 12-month low of $65.80 and a 12-month high of $94.45. The company has a market cap of $92.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.66, a PEG ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.53. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $83.37 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $86.69.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be paid a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.41%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. Southern’s payout ratio 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.