Verus Capital Partners LLC Acquires 354 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Verus Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 13.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,937 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 354 shares during the period. Verus Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $242,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Linscomb Wealth Inc. raised its position in shares of Southern by 18.4% during the 4th quarter. Linscomb Wealth Inc. now owns 10,955 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $902,000 after acquiring an additional 1,704 shares during the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Southern by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 127,025 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $10,457,000 after acquiring an additional 3,191 shares during the last quarter. Versor Investments LP bought a new stake in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter valued at $219,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Southern by 12,791.7% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 291,996 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $24,037,000 after acquiring an additional 289,731 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FUKOKU MUTUAL LIFE INSURANCE Co raised its position in shares of Southern by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. FUKOKU MUTUAL LIFE INSURANCE Co now owns 232,479 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $19,138,000 after acquiring an additional 1,092 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Southern

In other news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The shares were 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 $7,592,958.70. This represents a 1.31 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.00, for a total transaction of $1,250,440.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 13,236 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,138,296. This represents a 52.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Southern Price Performance

SO stock opened at $89.77 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $84.39 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $86.90. The stock has a market cap of $98.46 billion, a PE ratio of 22.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60. The Southern Company has a 1 year low of $65.99 and a 1 year high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its earnings results 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 the consensus estimate of $5.90 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.23% and a net margin of 16.47%. Equities analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.21%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is 71.82%.

About Southern

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.