Good Life Advisors LLC Buys 149 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Good Life Advisors LLC lifted its stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 0.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 19,956 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 149 shares during the quarter. Good Life Advisors LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $1,399,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southern in the second quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Intrepid Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Southern during the second quarter valued at $30,000. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. acquired a new stake in shares of Southern in the 4th quarter worth about $34,000. BKM Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southern in the 4th quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, VitalStone Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Southern in the 2nd quarter valued at about $35,000. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Stephen E. Kuczynski sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.99, for a total value of $359,950.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 101,284 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,291,435.16. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, insider David P. Poroch sold 10,099 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.96, for a total transaction of $706,526.04. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 28,691 shares in the company, valued at $2,007,222.36. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Stephen E. Kuczynski sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.99, for a total value of $359,950.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 101,284 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,291,435.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 25,998 shares of company stock worth $1,806,063 over the last ninety days. 0.28% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Southern Stock Up 1.0 %

NYSE:SO traded up $0.69 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $71.74. The stock had a trading volume of 4,714,953 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,607,419. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $68.40 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $68.83. The company has a market capitalization of $78.27 billion, a PE ratio of 19.58, a PEG ratio of 4.33 and a beta of 0.49. The Southern Company has a twelve month low of $61.56 and a twelve month high of $75.80. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The utilities provider reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.05. Southern had a return on equity of 11.40% and a net margin of 15.79%. The company had revenue of $6.05 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.90 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.26 earnings per share. Southern’s quarterly revenue was down 14.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 4 EPS for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 20th were paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 16th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 77.14%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on SO. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Southern from $68.00 to $67.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 17th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on shares of Southern from $75.00 to $72.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Southern from $69.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 29th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Southern from $75.00 to $72.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Citigroup assumed coverage on shares of Southern in a research report on Friday, December 8th. They set a “buy” rating and a $82.00 price objective on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $73.46.

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.