Dogwood Wealth Management LLC Increases Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Dogwood Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 40.0% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 7,545 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,155 shares during the quarter. Dogwood Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $621,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. YANKCOM Partnership purchased a new stake in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. WFA Asset Management Corp lifted its position in Southern by 84.9% during the fourth quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 429 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares during the period. Valley National Advisers Inc. lifted its position in Southern by 244.4% during the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 434 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 308 shares during the period. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in Southern during the fourth quarter valued at $35,000. Finally, Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp acquired a new position in Southern during the fourth quarter valued at $37,000. 64.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.61, for a total transaction of $100,811.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 102,090 shares in the company, valued at $9,148,284.90. This represents a 1.09% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.12, for a total transaction of $2,997,532.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 106,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,946,985.28. This represents a 23.16% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Guggenheim restated a “neutral” rating and set a $93.00 target price on shares of Southern in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Southern from $95.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Southern from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $94.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, KeyCorp downgraded shares of Southern from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $78.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $92.21.

Southern Trading Up 0.9%

Shares of Southern stock opened at $89.66 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $89.87 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $87.20. The company has a market cap of $98.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.40. The Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $76.64 and a fifty-two week high of $94.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.67.

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

Southern Increases Dividend

The business 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 dividend of $0.74 per share. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.30%. This is an increase from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is 70.64%.

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.