Cordatus Wealth Management LLC Buys 262 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Cordatus Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 4.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,152 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 262 shares during the period. Cordatus Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $506,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Waterfront Wealth Inc. grew its stake in shares of Southern by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Waterfront Wealth Inc. now owns 12,617 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,039,000 after purchasing an additional 210 shares during the period. Trinity Legacy Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Southern by 6.5% in the 4th quarter. Trinity Legacy Partners LLC now owns 58,601 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,824,000 after purchasing an additional 3,590 shares during the period. Financial Harvest LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southern in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $275,000. Capital Investment Counsel Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Southern by 12.0% in the 4th quarter. Capital Investment Counsel Inc now owns 5,038 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $415,000 after acquiring an additional 541 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Forte Capital LLC ADV boosted its holdings in shares of Southern by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Forte Capital LLC ADV now owns 35,546 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,926,000 after acquiring an additional 279 shares in the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Southern Stock Up 1.5 %

NYSE:SO opened at $87.78 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $83.50 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $86.80. The Southern Company has a 52-week low of $65.99 and a 52-week high of $94.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.91. The company has a market cap of $96.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.41, a P/E/G ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 0.53.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.51 by ($0.01). Southern had a net margin of 17.87% and a return on equity of 12.78%. On average, analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 4.05 EPS for the current year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be given a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. Southern’s payout ratio is 66.98%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In related news, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 owns 13,236 shares in the company, valued at $1,138,296. This represents a 52.35 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of the company’s 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. This represents a 1.31 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on SO. Mizuho boosted their target price on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. Scotiabank boosted their target price on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Guggenheim downgraded Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Southern presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $89.79.

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.