The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Shares Bought by Global Wealth Management Investment Advisory Inc.

Global Wealth Management Investment Advisory Inc. lifted its stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 1.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 53,294 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 995 shares during the period. Global Wealth Management Investment Advisory Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $4,387,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of SO. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Southern by 5.5% in the third quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 16,328 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,472,000 after purchasing an additional 847 shares during the last quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management grew its holdings in Southern by 22.2% in the 3rd quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 13,653 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,231,000 after buying an additional 2,476 shares in the last quarter. Annex Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Southern during the 3rd quarter worth $228,000. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA boosted its position in shares of Southern by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA now owns 7,951 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $717,000 after acquiring an additional 247 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Koshinski Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Southern by 17.2% during the third quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. now owns 17,276 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,558,000 after purchasing an additional 2,532 shares during the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on SO. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Scotiabank increased their target price on shares of Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Mizuho boosted 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Southern has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $89.79.

Southern Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SO opened at $84.53 on Monday. The Southern Company has a one year low of $65.80 and a one 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 has a market capitalization of $92.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.66, a PEG ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.53. The company’s fifty day moving average is $83.37 and its two-hundred day moving average is $86.69.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.41%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 66.98%.

Insider Transactions at Southern

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

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.