Enhancing Capital LLC Buys Shares of 2,500 The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Enhancing Capital LLC bought a new stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 2,500 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $206,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Xponance Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Southern by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 154,537 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $12,721,000 after buying an additional 5,618 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners raised its holdings in shares of Southern by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 355,997 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $29,306,000 after acquiring an additional 10,867 shares during the last quarter. Horizon Investments LLC increased its stake in Southern by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Horizon Investments LLC now owns 20,572 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,693,000 after purchasing an additional 659 shares during the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Southern by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 49,401 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,067,000 after purchasing an additional 1,640 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clarity Wealth Development LLC acquired a new position in Southern in the fourth quarter valued at $453,000. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Southern Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of Southern stock opened at $90.22 on Wednesday. The Southern Company has a twelve month low of $67.53 and a twelve month high of $94.45. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $98.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.50, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $86.26 and its 200-day simple moving average is $87.21.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its 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 business had revenue of $6.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.90 billion. Southern had a net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 12.23%. Equities research analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Announces Dividend

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. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. Southern’s payout ratio is currently 71.82%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In other news, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.00, for a total transaction of $1,250,440.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.12, for a total value of $2,997,532.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 106,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,946,985.28. This trade represents a 23.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 47,855 shares of company stock valued at $4,348,784. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have commented on the company. Scotiabank upped their price target on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Mizuho upped their target price on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Guggenheim downgraded Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus 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.