Lindbrook Capital LLC Buys 957 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Lindbrook Capital LLC lifted its position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 19.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,849 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 957 shares during the quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $481,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southern in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in Southern by 168.1% in the third quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC now owns 311 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 195 shares during the period. YANKCOM Partnership bought a new position in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter worth approximately $35,000. Finally, WFA Asset Management Corp lifted its holdings in Southern by 84.9% during the 4th quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 429 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares during the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.61, for a total value of $100,811.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 102,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,148,284.90. This represents a 1.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of Southern stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.00, for a total transaction of $1,250,440.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,236 shares in the company, valued at $1,138,296. This trade represents a 52.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on SO. Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Guggenheim lowered shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Mizuho increased their target price on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $90.54.

Southern Stock Performance

NYSE:SO opened at $88.69 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 Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $67.53 and a fifty-two week high of $94.45. The company has a market cap of $97.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.12, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.53. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $84.90 and a 200-day moving average price of $86.97.

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

Southern Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.25%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is currently 71.82%.

Southern 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.