Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc. Lowers Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc. lessened its position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 7.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,519 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 500 shares during the quarter. Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $537,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new position in Southern during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. YANKCOM Partnership bought a new position in Southern during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. WFA Asset Management Corp increased its position 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 buying an additional 197 shares in the last quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. increased its position in Southern by 244.4% during the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 434 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 308 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new position in Southern during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of Southern stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.61, for a total value of $100,811.25. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 102,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,148,284.90. The trade was a 1.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of Southern stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.00, for a total value of $1,250,440.00. Following the completion of 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. Insiders have sold 47,855 shares of company stock worth $4,348,784 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Southern Price Performance

NYSE SO opened at $89.21 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $97.84 billion, a PE ratio of 22.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46. 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 business’s fifty day moving average is $86.69 and its 200 day moving average is $87.26. The Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $67.53 and a fifty-two week 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 for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.51 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $6.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.90 billion. Southern had a net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 12.23%. Sell-side analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were given a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.23%. Southern’s payout ratio is 71.82%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on SO shares. UBS Group raised their price objective on Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday. Guggenheim lowered Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Mizuho lifted their target price on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Scotiabank lifted their target price on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Southern from $88.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday. One equities research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, Southern has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $91.46.

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.