FAS Wealth Partners Inc. Purchases 1,077 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

FAS Wealth Partners Inc. raised its stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 4.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 27,962 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,077 shares during the period. FAS Wealth Partners Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $2,302,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in SO. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC purchased a new position in Southern in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. YANKCOM Partnership purchased a new position in Southern during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. WFA Asset Management Corp increased its position 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 worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 197 shares during the period. Valley National Advisers Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Southern by 244.4% in the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 434 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 308 shares during the period. Finally, Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Southern in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Southern in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Southern from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $94.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Guggenheim downgraded shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Southern has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $92.54.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In other news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of Southern stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.12, for a total value of $2,997,532.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 106,819 shares in the company, valued at $9,946,985.28. The trade was a 23.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of Southern stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.61, for a total value of $100,811.25. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 102,090 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,148,284.90. The trade was a 1.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 47,855 shares of company stock worth $4,348,784 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Southern Price Performance

Shares of SO opened at $91.97 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $101.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.39. The business has a 50-day moving average of $90.02 and a 200-day moving average of $87.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.66. The Southern Company has a 1 year low of $73.20 and a 1 year high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) 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 analysts’ expectations of $5.90 billion. Southern had a net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 12.23%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be paid a $0.74 dividend. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.22%. This is a boost from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. Southern’s payout ratio is currently 73.82%.

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.