First Business Financial Services Inc. Makes New $617,000 Investment in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

First Business Financial Services Inc. purchased a new position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 7,490 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $617,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. lifted its stake in shares of Southern by 31.6% in the 3rd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 138,447 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $12,485,000 after purchasing an additional 33,266 shares in the last quarter. United Advisor Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Southern by 24.9% in the 3rd quarter. United Advisor Group LLC now owns 3,492 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $315,000 after purchasing an additional 697 shares in the last quarter. Hanlon Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Southern in the 3rd quarter valued at about $202,000. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Southern in the 3rd quarter valued at about $242,000. Finally, HF Advisory Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Southern by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. HF Advisory Group LLC now owns 22,898 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,065,000 after purchasing an additional 408 shares in the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on SO shares. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective 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. Guggenheim lowered Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Mizuho lifted their price objective on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their price objective on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $90.54.

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:SO opened at $88.64 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $97.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.10, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.53. 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 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 $84.79 and its 200 day simple moving average is $86.95.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted 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). Southern had a return on equity of 12.23% and a net margin of 16.47%. The business had revenue of $6.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.90 billion. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.25%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is presently 71.82%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of Southern stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.61, for a total value of $100,811.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 102,090 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,148,284.90. This trade represents a 1.09 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of Southern stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 13,236 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,138,296. The trade was a 52.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company 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.