E Fund Management Co. Ltd. Buys Shares of 2,712 The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

E Fund Management Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 2,712 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $223,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Ethos Financial Group LLC increased its stake in Southern by 47.3% in the 4th quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC now owns 3,402 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $280,000 after purchasing an additional 1,093 shares in the last quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC grew its stake in Southern by 19.6% in the 4th quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 5,849 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $481,000 after acquiring an additional 957 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Southern during the fourth quarter worth about $315,290,000. First Business Financial Services Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter valued at about $617,000. Finally, Vision Financial Markets LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $88,000. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SO has been the topic of several recent research reports. Scotiabank upped their price objective on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Mizuho boosted their price target on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Guggenheim lowered Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $90.54.

Southern Stock Up 3.2 %

Shares of NYSE:SO opened at $91.54 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $85.07 and a 200-day simple moving average of $87.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $100.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.83, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46. The Southern Company has a 1 year low of $67.53 and a 1 year high of $94.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.67.

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

Southern Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were given a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.15%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 71.82%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of Southern stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.61, for a total transaction of $100,811.25. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 102,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,148,284.90. The trade was a 1.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.00, for a total value of $1,250,440.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,236 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,138,296. This 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 insiders.

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.