BIP Wealth LLC Increases Stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

BIP Wealth LLC increased its holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 14.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,720 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,472 shares during the quarter. BIP Wealth LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $965,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in SO. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in Southern during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. YANKCOM Partnership purchased a new stake in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. WFA Asset Management Corp grew its holdings in shares of Southern by 84.9% in the fourth quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 429 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares during the last quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. raised its holdings in Southern by 244.4% during 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 last quarter. Finally, Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in Southern during the 4th quarter valued at $35,000. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Southern Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SO opened at $91.06 on Friday. 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 company has a 50 day simple moving average of $90.09 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $87.39. The Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $74.88 and a fifty-two week high of $94.45. The company has a market capitalization of $100.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.71, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.39.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.03. Southern had a return on equity of 12.23% and a net margin of 16.47%. The business had revenue of $7.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.17 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.03 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.74 per share. This is a positive change from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.25%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 73.82%.

Insider Transactions at Southern

In other Southern news, 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 106,819 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,946,985.28. This represents a 23.16 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of Southern stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.00, for a total transaction of $1,250,440.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 13,236 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,138,296. This represents a 52.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 47,855 shares of company stock worth $4,348,784. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Southern from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $94.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on Southern from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Friday. Mizuho lifted their price objective on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Southern from $95.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Guggenheim reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $93.00 price objective on shares of Southern in a research report on Friday. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $93.07.

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.