DMC Group LLC Has $1.18 Million Stock Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

DMC Group LLC lifted its holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 1.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,374 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 139 shares during the period. DMC Group LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $1,183,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Invesco LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter worth about $213,000. Field & Main Bank raised its stake in shares of Southern by 7.2% in the 4th quarter. Field & Main Bank now owns 10,990 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $905,000 after acquiring an additional 740 shares in the last quarter. Allen Capital Group LLC lifted its holdings in Southern by 17.0% in the 4th quarter. Allen Capital Group LLC now owns 21,075 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,735,000 after purchasing an additional 3,059 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Blueprint LLC boosted its position in Southern by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Strategic Blueprint LLC now owns 15,767 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,298,000 after purchasing an additional 212 shares during the period. Finally, Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Southern by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 77,493 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $6,502,000 after purchasing an additional 3,580 shares during the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SO has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Morgan Stanley reduced 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 note on Friday, November 22nd. Guggenheim lowered shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Scotiabank raised their price target on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $90.14.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.90, for a total value of $100,503.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 88,393 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,592,958.70. This represents a 1.31 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Southern Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of Southern stock opened at $82.88 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $84.15 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $86.57. The firm has a market capitalization of $90.81 billion, a PE ratio of 19.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.52. The Southern Company has a 52-week low of $65.80 and a 52-week high of $94.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.66.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $7.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.14 billion. Southern had a net margin of 17.87% and a return on equity of 12.78%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.42 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.04 EPS for the current year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be issued a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.48%. Southern’s payout ratio is presently 66.98%.

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.