1620 Investment Advisors Inc. Boosts Stock Holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

1620 Investment Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 1.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 11,251 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 158 shares during the quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $926,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Financial Enhancement Group LLC bought a new position in Southern during the fourth quarter valued at $326,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Southern by 5.4% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 108,361 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $9,772,000 after purchasing an additional 5,589 shares during the last quarter. Verity & Verity LLC lifted its position in Southern by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Verity & Verity LLC now owns 201,971 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $16,626,000 after purchasing an additional 5,434 shares during the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its position in Southern by 94.4% during the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 288,679 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $26,033,000 after purchasing an additional 140,151 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Farmers Trust Co. lifted its position in Southern by 31.6% during the fourth quarter. Farmers Trust Co. now owns 48,383 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,983,000 after purchasing an additional 11,605 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Southern Trading Up 0.5 %

NYSE SO opened at $90.01 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 market capitalization of $98.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $86.53 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $87.24. The Southern Company has a one year low of $67.53 and a one year high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $6.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.90 billion. Southern had a net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 12.23%. Equities analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were paid a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.20%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 71.82%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on SO. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Southern from $88.00 to $91.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Guggenheim lowered shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $91.00.

Insider Transactions at Southern

In other news, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.00, for a total value 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 trade represents a 52.35 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 102,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,148,284.90. The trade was a 1.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 47,855 shares of company stock valued at $4,348,784. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.