The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Position Reduced by Midland Wealth Advisors LLC

Midland Wealth Advisors LLC trimmed its position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 4.5% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 8,465 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 403 shares during the period. Midland Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $697,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new position in Southern in the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. YANKCOM Partnership purchased a new stake in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Southern by 168.1% in the third quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC now owns 311 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 195 shares during the period. WFA Asset Management Corp grew its holdings in shares of Southern by 84.9% during the fourth 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. Finally, Valley National Advisers Inc. raised its position 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 period. 64.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Southern

In related news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.61, for a total transaction of $100,811.25. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 13,236 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,138,296. The trade was a 52.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Southern Stock Up 3.2 %

Shares of SO stock opened at $91.54 on Monday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $85.07 and its 200 day simple moving average is $87.00. The Southern Company has a twelve month low of $67.53 and a twelve month high of $94.45. 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 company has a market capitalization of $100.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.83, a PEG 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 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $6.34 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.90 billion. Southern had a net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 12.23%. As a group, research analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were given a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is currently 71.82%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have commented on SO shares. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective 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. Mizuho boosted 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. Guggenheim downgraded shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Scotiabank boosted 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $90.54.

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.