Quadrant Capital Group LLC Has $974,000 Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Quadrant Capital Group LLC increased its position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 7.4% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 11,828 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 819 shares during the quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $974,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. YANKCOM Partnership bought a new stake in Southern during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. WFA Asset Management Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Southern by 84.9% in the 4th quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 429 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares in the last quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. increased its stake in shares of Southern by 244.4% in the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 434 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 308 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter worth $35,000. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Southern

In other Southern news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.61, for a total transaction of $100,811.25. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 102,090 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,148,284.90. This represents a 1.09 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 106,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,946,985.28. This represents a 23.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 47,855 shares of company stock worth $4,348,784 over the last three months. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Southern Stock Down 3.8 %

Shares of NYSE:SO opened at $89.07 on Monday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $88.14 and a 200 day simple moving average of $87.32. The Southern Company has a 12-month low of $67.53 and a 12-month high of $94.45. The firm has a market cap of $97.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.21, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by ($0.01). Southern had a return on equity of 12.23% and a net margin of 16.47%. The company had revenue of $6.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.90 billion. Analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were paid a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.23%. 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

Several research firms recently weighed in on SO. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Southern in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Guggenheim lowered shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Southern currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target 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.