The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Shares Acquired by Simmons Bank

Simmons Bank increased its position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 3.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 69,850 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,053 shares during the quarter. Simmons Bank’s holdings in Southern were worth $5,750,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of SO. Financial Enhancement Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Southern in the 4th quarter valued at $326,000. OneAscent Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Southern during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $576,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its position in Southern by 5.4% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 108,361 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $9,772,000 after purchasing an additional 5,589 shares during the period. Verity & Verity LLC grew its stake in shares of Southern by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Verity & Verity LLC now owns 201,971 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $16,626,000 after buying an additional 5,434 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Southern by 94.4% in the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 288,679 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $26,033,000 after buying an additional 140,151 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In other Southern 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 value of $100,503.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 88,393 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,592,958.70. This trade represents a 1.31 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.00, for a total value of $1,250,440.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 13,236 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,138,296. This trade represents a 52.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of SO stock opened at $89.85 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $83.97 and its two-hundred day moving average is $86.86. 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 Southern Company has a 1 year low of $65.99 and a 1 year high of $94.45. The firm has a market cap of $98.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.41, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.53.

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

Southern Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be given a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.21%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. Southern’s payout ratio is currently 71.82%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SO has been the subject of several recent research reports. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Guggenheim lowered Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Mizuho boosted their target price on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Southern has an average 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.