United Bank Boosts Stock Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

United Bank increased its holdings in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 7.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 55,656 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 4,032 shares during the period. Southern comprises approximately 1.9% of United Bank’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest holding. United Bank’s holdings in Southern were worth $4,582,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SO. Financial Enhancement Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter worth about $326,000. Verity & Verity LLC boosted its holdings in Southern by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Verity & Verity LLC now owns 201,971 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $16,626,000 after buying an additional 5,434 shares during the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Southern by 94.4% during the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 288,679 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $26,033,000 after acquiring an additional 140,151 shares during the last quarter. Farmers Trust Co. lifted its position in shares of Southern by 31.6% in the fourth quarter. Farmers Trust Co. now owns 48,383 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,983,000 after acquiring an additional 11,605 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Czech National Bank boosted its stake in shares of Southern by 6.7% in the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 237,566 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $19,556,000 after acquiring an additional 14,824 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on SO. UBS Group raised their price objective on Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Southern in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Guggenheim downgraded shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $91.46.

Southern Price Performance

SO stock opened at $91.10 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $87.34 and a 200-day simple moving average of $87.26. The company has a market capitalization of $99.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.72, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46. The Southern Company has a twelve month low of $67.53 and a twelve month high of $94.45. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued 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. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were given a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.16%. Southern’s payout ratio is 71.82%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In other Southern news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.61, for a total transaction of $100,811.25. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 102,090 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,148,284.90. The trade was a 1.09 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.00, for a total value of $1,250,440.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,236 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,138,296. This represents a 52.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 47,855 shares of company stock worth $4,348,784. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by 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.