KPP Advisory Services LLC Purchases 483 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

KPP Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 5.6% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 9,131 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 483 shares during the quarter. KPP Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $752,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Financial Enhancement Group LLC bought a new stake in Southern in the fourth quarter valued at $326,000. OneAscent Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in Southern during the third quarter valued at $576,000. 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 buying an additional 5,589 shares during the period. 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 buying an additional 5,434 shares during the period. Finally, 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 buying an additional 140,151 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SO has been the subject of several recent research reports. Guggenheim lowered Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Barclays lifted their price target on Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their price target 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 analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $90.14.

Southern Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:SO opened at $83.91 on Monday. The Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $65.80 and a fifty-two week high of $94.45. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $83.92 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $86.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.91. The firm has a market cap of $91.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.53.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $7.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.14 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.78% and a net margin of 17.87%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.42 EPS. On average, analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.43%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is currently 66.98%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In related news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.90, for a total transaction of $100,503.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 88,393 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,592,958.70. The trade was a 1.31 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.