Financial Security Advisor Inc. Purchases 161 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Financial Security Advisor Inc. grew its position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 1.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 12,272 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 161 shares during the quarter. Financial Security Advisor Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $1,010,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. YANKCOM Partnership acquired a new stake in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Southern by 168.1% in the third quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC now owns 311 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 195 shares during the last quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp grew 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. Finally, Valley National Advisers Inc. grew its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 308 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Southern Stock Down 0.3 %

SO opened at $88.47 on Friday. The Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $65.99 and a fifty-two week high of $94.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.66. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $84.25 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $86.88. The company has a market capitalization of $97.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.06, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 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 16.47% and a return on equity of 12.23%. The firm had revenue of $6.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.90 billion. On average, analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be paid a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.26%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is presently 71.82%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of Southern stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.90, for a total value of $100,503.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 88,393 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,592,958.70. The trade was a 1.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of Southern stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, 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. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on SO shares. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on shares of Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Guggenheim downgraded shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $90.54.

Southern Company 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.