Gordian Capital Singapore Pte Ltd Purchases 11,050 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Gordian Capital Singapore Pte Ltd raised its stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 139.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 19,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 11,050 shares during the quarter. Southern makes up 0.8% of Gordian Capital Singapore Pte Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 29th biggest position. Gordian Capital Singapore Pte Ltd’s holdings in Southern were worth $1,564,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of SO. Syverson Strege & Co raised its holdings in Southern by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Syverson Strege & Co now owns 4,264 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $351,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. Providence Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Southern by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Providence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 41,073 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,381,000 after buying an additional 120 shares during the period. Coastal Bridge Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Southern by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Coastal Bridge Advisors LLC now owns 32,508 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,676,000 after acquiring an additional 122 shares during the period. Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC raised its position in shares of Southern by 15.9% in the 4th quarter. Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC now owns 895 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $74,000 after acquiring an additional 123 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Elevate Wealth Advisory Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Southern by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Elevate Wealth Advisory Inc. now owns 6,200 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $510,000 after purchasing an additional 123 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Southern Stock Performance

NYSE:SO opened at $89.71 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.67. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $89.92 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $87.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $98.60 billion, a PE ratio of 22.37, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.40. The Southern Company has a 52-week low of $76.64 and a 52-week high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $7.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.17 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.23% and a net margin of 16.47%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.03 EPS. Analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th will be given a $0.74 dividend. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.30%. This is a boost from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. Southern’s payout ratio is currently 70.64%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In other news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was 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 approximately $9,148,284.90. The trade was a 1.09% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The stock was 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 owns 106,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,946,985.28. This represents a 23.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.16% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently commented on the stock. KeyCorp cut shares of Southern from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $78.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Southern from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $94.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Southern from $95.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $92.21.

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.