Pacific Wealth Strategies Group Inc. Purchases New Stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Pacific Wealth Strategies Group Inc. purchased a new stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO – Get Rating) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 5,127 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $366,000.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Southern by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 94,652,372 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $6,436,360,000 after acquiring an additional 1,391,612 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. lifted its stake in Southern by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 76,360,768 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,192,533,000 after acquiring an additional 723,336 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Southern by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 65,068,549 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,424,661,000 after acquiring an additional 1,313,036 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in Southern by 6.2% during the 3rd quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 63,002,360 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,284,352,000 after acquiring an additional 3,653,841 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC lifted its stake in Southern by 8.0% during the 2nd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 34,917,062 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,489,935,000 after acquiring an additional 2,583,841 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 61.78% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Christopher Cummiskey sold 852 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.31, for a total value of $57,348.12. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 22,059 shares in the company, valued at $1,484,791.29. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, EVP Christopher Cummiskey sold 852 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.31, for a total value of $57,348.12. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 22,059 shares in the company, valued at $1,484,791.29. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Stephen E. Kuczynski sold 14,546 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.95, for a total transaction of $1,032,038.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 120,786 shares in the company, valued at $8,569,766.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 16,680 shares of company stock worth $1,174,768 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.37% of the company’s stock.

Southern Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of SO opened at $67.90 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $66.86 and its 200-day moving average price is $68.60. The Southern Company has a twelve month low of $58.85 and a twelve month high of $80.57. The stock has a market cap of $73.94 billion, a PE ratio of 20.70, a P/E/G ratio of 4.71 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47.

Southern (NYSE:SO – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 16th. The utilities provider reported $0.26 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.24 by $0.02. Southern had a return on equity of 11.73% and a net margin of 12.40%. The firm had revenue of $7.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.83 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.36 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 22.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 3.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 21st were given a dividend of $0.68 per share. This represents a $2.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 17th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is presently 82.93%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SO has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Southern from $68.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 16th. UBS Group lowered their target price on Southern to $80.00 in a research note on Monday, November 21st. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Southern from $64.00 to $61.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 22nd. Wolfe Research upgraded Southern from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $76.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 12th. Finally, StockNews.com initiated coverage on Southern in a research note on Thursday. They set a “sell” rating on the stock. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Southern presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $71.93.

About Southern

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The Southern Co is a holding company, which engages in the generation and sale of electricity. It operates through the following segments: Traditional Electric Operating Companies, Southern Power and Southern Company Gas. The Traditional Electric Operating Companies segment refers to vertically integrated utilities that own generation, transmission and distribution facilities, and supplies electric services in the states of Alabama, Georgia, Florida, and Mississippi.