AlphaCore Capital LLC Acquires 369 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

AlphaCore Capital LLC grew its holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 6.7% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 5,895 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 369 shares during the quarter. AlphaCore Capital LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $485,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. YANKCOM Partnership bought a new position in shares of Southern in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. WFA Asset Management Corp grew its position in Southern by 84.9% during the 4th 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 last quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. grew its position in Southern by 244.4% during the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 434 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 308 shares during the last quarter. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in Southern during the 4th quarter worth $35,000. Finally, Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp bought a new stake in Southern during the 4th quarter worth $37,000. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the company’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 value of $100,811.25. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 102,090 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,148,284.90. This represents a 1.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 106,819 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,946,985.28. The trade was a 23.16% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Southern Stock Performance

SO stock opened at $89.66 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $98.54 billion, a PE ratio of 22.36, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60. The business has a 50 day moving average of $89.87 and a 200-day moving average of $87.20. The Southern Company has a 12-month low of $76.64 and a 12-month high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.17 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.23% and a net margin of 16.47%. Southern’s quarterly revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.03 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on Southern from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Barclays boosted their price objective on Southern from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Southern from $95.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Southern from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $94.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Southern in a report on Thursday, March 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Southern presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $92.21.

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.