Everstar Asset Management LLC Acquires New Shares in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Everstar Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 10,584 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $871,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in SO. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Southern by 12.4% during the fourth quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 190,609 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $15,691,000 after purchasing an additional 21,028 shares in the last quarter. United Bank boosted its position in Southern by 7.8% during the 4th quarter. United Bank now owns 55,656 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,582,000 after acquiring an additional 4,032 shares in the last quarter. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Southern by 89.4% in the 4th quarter. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC now owns 607,903 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $50,043,000 after acquiring an additional 286,996 shares during the period. L & S Advisors Inc raised its position in shares of Southern by 69.9% in the 4th quarter. L & S Advisors Inc now owns 44,155 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,635,000 after acquiring an additional 18,160 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BlueChip Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Southern by 22.4% during the 4th quarter. BlueChip Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 9,654 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $795,000 after purchasing an additional 1,767 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have issued reports on SO. UBS Group lifted their target price on Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Guggenheim downgraded shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Southern in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price objective on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $91.46.

Southern Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE:SO opened at $91.10 on Monday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $87.34 and a 200-day moving average price of $87.24. The stock has a market cap of $99.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.72, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46. The Southern Company has a 52-week low of $67.53 and a 52-week high of $94.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60.

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

Southern Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were given a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is currently 71.82%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In other news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of Southern stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $9,946,985.28. This trade represents a 23.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 47,855 shares of company stock worth $4,348,784. 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.