Barlow Wealth Partners Inc. Buys New Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Barlow Wealth Partners Inc. purchased a new position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 3,130 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $219,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in SO. BKM Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Southern in the 4th quarter worth $34,000. Valley National Advisers Inc. boosted its holdings in Southern by 63.9% during the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 526 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 205 shares during the period. CNB Bank grew its position in Southern by 1,021.4% during the 3rd quarter. CNB Bank now owns 628 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 572 shares during the last quarter. Your Advocates Ltd. LLP purchased a new position in Southern in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $42,000. Finally, Cetera Trust Company N.A bought a new stake in Southern in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SO has been the topic of several analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $76.00 target price (up from $72.00) on shares of Southern in a research note on Monday, April 1st. UBS Group cut shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $78.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Scotiabank cut their price objective on Southern from $80.00 to $77.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Southern from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $80.00 price objective on shares of Southern in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $74.71.

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE SO traded up $1.48 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $76.95. 8,919,194 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,824,416. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.92. The Southern Company has a one year low of $61.56 and a one year high of $77.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $84.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.88, a PEG ratio of 4.75 and a beta of 0.48. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $70.78 and a two-hundred day moving average of $69.82.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The utilities provider reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.13. Southern had a return on equity of 12.07% and a net margin of 16.74%. The business had revenue of $6.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.59 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.79 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 3.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.72 per share. This is a boost from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.74%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 17th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is currently 72.35%.

Insider Transactions at Southern

In other Southern news, CEO Stephen E. Kuczynski sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.94, for a total transaction of $334,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 129,552 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,672,210.88. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 9,126 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.04, for a total value of $684,815.04. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 121,504 shares in the company, valued at $9,117,660.16. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Stephen E. Kuczynski sold 5,000 shares of Southern stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.94, for a total value of $334,700.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 129,552 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,672,210.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 19,126 shares of company stock worth $1,364,115 in the last 90 days. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.