HF Advisory Group LLC Increases Stake in Southern Company (The) $SO

HF Advisory Group LLC increased its stake in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 57.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 50,551 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 18,431 shares during the period. HF Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $4,408,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Cloud Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Southern in the third quarter worth $25,000. Grey Fox Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southern during the third quarter worth $29,000. Triumph Capital Management purchased a new stake in shares of Southern during the third quarter valued at $29,000. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Southern in the 3rd quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, Chilton Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Southern by 120.1% in the 3rd quarter. Chilton Capital Management LLC now owns 361 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 197 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on SO. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $102.00 price target on shares of Southern in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Mizuho set a $104.00 price objective on Southern and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 20th. Wall Street Zen cut Southern from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, December 6th. TD Cowen lifted their target price on Southern from $108.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company set a $96.00 target price on Southern and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $98.08.

Southern Price Performance

Shares of Southern stock opened at $96.98 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $106.79 billion, a PE ratio of 24.68, a P/E/G ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.41. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $93.89 and a 200 day moving average price of $91.94. The company has a quick ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69. Southern Company has a twelve month low of $83.09 and a twelve month high of $100.83.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 18th. The utilities provider reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.56 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $6.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.41 billion. Southern had a net margin of 14.69% and a return on equity of 12.52%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.50 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 17th were paid a $0.74 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 17th. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.1%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 75.32%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Southern news, EVP Christopher Cummiskey sold 6,669 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.55, for a total transaction of $643,891.95. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 30,800 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,973,740. This represents a 17.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Southern Company Profile

Southern Company (NYSE: SO) is an Atlanta-based energy holding company that provides electric and gas utility services and owns power generation assets across the United States. Founded in 1945, the company operates a portfolio of regulated electric utilities and affiliated businesses that generate, transmit and distribute electricity to residential, commercial and industrial customers.

Southern’s principal regulated electric subsidiaries include Georgia Power, Alabama Power and Mississippi Power, which serve large portions of the southeastern United States.