Keudell Morrison Wealth Management Buys New Stake in Southern Company (The) $SO

Keudell Morrison Wealth Management bought a new stake in shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 7,849 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $684,000.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Cloud Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Southern during the third quarter valued at $25,000. Triumph Capital Management purchased a new position in Southern during the third quarter valued at $29,000. Grey Fox Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Southern during the third quarter valued at $29,000. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. purchased a new position in Southern during the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, Chilton Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Southern by 120.1% during the third quarter. Chilton Capital Management LLC now owns 361 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 197 shares in the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Southern

In related news, EVP Christopher Cummiskey sold 6,669 shares of Southern stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.55, for a total transaction of $643,891.95. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 30,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,973,740. The trade was a 17.80% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 25,000 shares of Southern stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.67, for a total transaction of $2,416,750.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 103,602 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,015,205.34. This represents a 19.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:SO opened at $94.31 on Friday. Southern Company has a 52 week low of $83.80 and a 52 week high of $100.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $106.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.00, a PEG ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.36. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $95.10 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $91.77. The company has a quick ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The utilities provider reported $1.32 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.21 by $0.11. Southern had a net margin of 14.46% and a return on equity of 12.64%. The business had revenue of $8.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.07 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.23 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Southern Company will post 4.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 8th. Investors of record on Monday, May 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.76 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 18th. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.2%. This is a boost from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is presently 77.35%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SO has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company set a $96.00 target price on shares of Southern and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 20th. KeyCorp raised shares of Southern from an “underweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. Mizuho set a $105.00 price objective on shares of Southern in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Raymond James Financial reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $104.00 price objective on shares of Southern in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Evercore raised shares of Southern from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $111.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Southern currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $99.56.

Southern Company Profile

Southern Company (NYSE: SO) is an Atlanta-based energy holding company that provides electric and gas utility services and owns power generation assets across the United States. Founded in 1945, the company operates a portfolio of regulated electric utilities and affiliated businesses that generate, transmit and distribute electricity to residential, commercial and industrial customers.

Southern’s principal regulated electric subsidiaries include Georgia Power, Alabama Power and Mississippi Power, which serve large portions of the southeastern United States.