Linscomb Wealth Inc. Acquires 1,704 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Linscomb Wealth Inc. boosted its holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 18.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 10,955 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,704 shares during the quarter. Linscomb Wealth Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $902,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. YANKCOM Partnership bought a new position in Southern in the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake in Southern by 168.1% in the third quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC now owns 311 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 195 shares during the period. WFA Asset Management Corp increased its holdings in shares of Southern by 84.9% during the fourth quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 429 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 197 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Valley National Advisers Inc. raised its position in shares of Southern by 244.4% during 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 during the period. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on SO. Guggenheim lowered shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Mizuho lifted their price target on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Southern presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $90.54.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the business’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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 13,236 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,138,296. The trade was a 52.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.90, for a total transaction 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 approximately $7,592,958.70. This trade represents a 1.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Southern Stock Up 1.7 %

Shares of NYSE:SO opened at $89.77 on Friday. The Southern Company has a 1 year low of $65.99 and a 1 year high of $94.45. The company has a market capitalization of $98.46 billion, a PE ratio of 22.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.53. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $84.39 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $86.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.66.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.51 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $6.34 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.90 billion. Southern had a net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 12.23%. Analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be issued a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.21%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 71.82%.

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.