Morton Community Bank Has $3.77 Million Stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Morton Community Bank boosted its stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 1.1% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 45,740 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 490 shares during the period. Morton Community Bank’s holdings in Southern were worth $3,765,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in Southern during the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. YANKCOM Partnership acquired a new stake in Southern during the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Southern by 168.1% during the 3rd 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 period. WFA Asset Management Corp grew its holdings in Southern by 84.9% during the 4th 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 period. Finally, Valley National Advisers Inc. grew its holdings in Southern by 244.4% during the 4th 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 period. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. Scotiabank increased their price target on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Mizuho raised their target price on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Guggenheim downgraded Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $90.54.

Southern Trading Up 3.2 %

NYSE:SO opened at $91.54 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $100.40 billion, a PE ratio of 22.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $85.07 and its 200 day moving average is $87.00. The Southern Company has a 12 month low of $67.53 and a 12 month high of $94.45.

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

Southern Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th were issued a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.15%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 71.82%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of Southern 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,236 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,138,296. The trade was a 52.35 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $9,148,284.90. This trade represents a 1.09 % 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.

About Southern

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.