Millstone Evans Group LLC Invests $112,000 in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Millstone Evans Group LLC purchased a new position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 1,357 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $112,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of SO. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new position in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. YANKCOM Partnership acquired a new position in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter worth $26,000. WFA Asset Management Corp increased its stake 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. boosted its holdings in Southern by 244.4% in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in Southern in the fourth quarter worth $35,000. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on SO shares. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Southern from $88.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Guggenheim cut shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $91.46.

Southern Stock Down 0.8 %

NYSE SO opened at $89.21 on Friday. The Southern Company has a twelve month low of $67.53 and a twelve month high of $94.45. 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 $97.84 billion, a PE ratio of 22.25, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $86.69 and a 200 day simple moving average of $87.25.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.90 billion. On average, research analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th were given a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.23%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 71.82%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.12, for a total transaction of $2,997,532.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 106,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,946,985.28. This trade represents a 23.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.00, for a total transaction of $1,250,440.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly 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. Insiders sold 47,855 shares of company stock valued at $4,348,784 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.