Signature Wealth Management Group Has $9.88 Million Holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Signature Wealth Management Group decreased its stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 3.4% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 120,074 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 4,249 shares during the quarter. Southern makes up 4.0% of Signature Wealth Management Group’s holdings, making the stock its largest holding. Signature Wealth Management Group’s holdings in Southern were worth $9,884,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new position in Southern during the third quarter worth about $302,000. Plato Investment Management Ltd raised its position in shares of Southern by 12.9% in the third quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd now owns 3,792 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $342,000 after buying an additional 434 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV raised its position in shares of Southern by 1.2% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 85,591 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $7,719,000 after buying an additional 1,023 shares in the last quarter. Curi RMB Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southern in the third quarter valued at approximately $217,000. Finally, ING Groep NV acquired a new stake in shares of Southern in the third quarter valued at approximately $234,000. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Southern Stock Performance

NYSE SO opened at $90.44 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $85.88 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $87.13. The stock has a market cap of $99.19 billion, a PE ratio of 22.55, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46. The Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $67.53 and a fifty-two week high of $94.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.67.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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). Southern had a return on equity of 12.23% and a net margin of 16.47%. The business had revenue of $6.34 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.90 billion. On average, equities analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th were paid a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.18%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is 71.82%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on SO shares. Scotiabank lifted their price target on shares of Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Guggenheim downgraded shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. One equities 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 company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $90.54.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Southern 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 transaction of $1,250,440.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 13,236 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,138,296. This represents a 52.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the company’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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 102,090 shares in the company, valued at $9,148,284.90. This trade represents a 1.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 47,855 shares of company stock valued at $4,348,784 over the last 90 days. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.