Avantax Planning Partners Inc. Acquires 1,535 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Avantax Planning Partners Inc. lifted its holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 4.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 38,619 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,535 shares during the quarter. Avantax Planning Partners Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $3,179,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of SO. XML Financial LLC increased its stake in Southern by 8.5% in the 3rd quarter. XML Financial LLC now owns 14,249 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,285,000 after buying an additional 1,113 shares during the period. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Southern by 9.2% during the third quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,710 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,236,000 after acquiring an additional 1,157 shares during the period. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Southern during the third quarter valued at approximately $725,000. Tyler Stone Wealth Management boosted its holdings in shares of Southern by 154.1% in the third quarter. Tyler Stone Wealth Management now owns 3,586 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $323,000 after purchasing an additional 2,175 shares during the period. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Southern by 1.8% in the third quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 19,073 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,720,000 after purchasing an additional 332 shares in the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SO has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Guggenheim lowered shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Scotiabank increased 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $90.54.

Insider Transactions at Southern

In related news, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.00, for a total transaction of $1,250,440.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,236 shares in the company, valued at $1,138,296. The trade was a 52.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.61, for a total value of $100,811.25. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 102,090 shares in the company, valued at $9,148,284.90. This represents a 1.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Southern Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SO opened at $92.75 on Tuesday. The Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $67.53 and a fifty-two week high of $94.45. The company has a market cap of $101.73 billion, a PE ratio of 23.13, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46. 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 business has a 50-day simple moving average of $85.28 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $87.04.

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

Southern Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.11%. Southern’s payout ratio is presently 71.82%.

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.