Biondo Investment Advisors LLC Buys 1,213 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Biondo Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 0.9% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 133,358 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,213 shares during the quarter. Southern makes up about 1.5% of Biondo Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 24th largest holding. Biondo Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $10,978,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of SO. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new position in Southern in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. YANKCOM Partnership bought a new position in shares of Southern in the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. WFA Asset Management Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Southern by 84.9% in the fourth quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 429 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 197 shares during the last quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. increased its holdings in Southern by 244.4% during the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new position in Southern in the fourth quarter worth approximately $35,000. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Southern Stock Up 1.2 %

SO opened at $91.10 on Friday. The Southern Company has a 52 week low of $67.53 and a 52 week high of $94.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $87.34 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $87.27. The company has a market capitalization of $99.92 billion, a PE ratio of 22.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its quarterly 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 firm 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%. Analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The firm 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 of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.16%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 71.82%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Southern news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of Southern stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.12, for a total transaction of $2,997,532.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 106,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,946,985.28. The trade was a 23.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,236 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,138,296. This represents a 52.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 47,855 shares of company stock valued at $4,348,784 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on SO. Guggenheim downgraded shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Scotiabank lifted their price target 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Southern in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $91.46.

Southern Company 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.