Northstar Advisory Group LLC Has $676,000 Holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Northstar Advisory Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 6.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 8,206 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 504 shares during the period. Northstar Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $676,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of SO. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Southern by 168.1% during the third quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC now owns 311 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 195 shares during the last quarter. West Branch Capital LLC raised its holdings in Southern by 34.7% during the 3rd quarter. West Branch Capital LLC now owns 501 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 129 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP acquired a new position in Southern during the 3rd quarter valued at about $49,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new position in shares of Southern in the 3rd quarter valued at about $49,000. Finally, Activest Wealth Management acquired a new stake in shares of Southern during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $54,000. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of Southern stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.90, for a total transaction of $100,503.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 88,393 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,592,958.70. The trade was a 1.31 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have commented on SO. Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Guggenheim increased their target price on Southern from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. UBS Group boosted their target price on Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Southern in a research report on Friday, September 20th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $94.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their target price 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Southern presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $90.14.

Southern Stock Up 0.6 %

Southern stock traded up $0.49 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $81.81. The stock had a trading volume of 3,511,242 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,788,600. The Southern Company has a 1-year low of $65.80 and a 1-year high of $94.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.91. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $85.22 and its 200-day simple moving average is $86.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $89.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 0.52.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.10. Southern had a net margin of 17.87% and a return on equity of 12.78%. The business had revenue of $7.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.14 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.42 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th were paid a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 18th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.52%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is 66.98%.

About Southern

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.