HighPoint Advisor Group LLC Has $3.23 Million Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

HighPoint Advisor Group LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 1.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 37,338 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 539 shares during the period. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $3,228,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of SO. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Southern by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 102,790,453 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $8,461,710,000 after acquiring an additional 698,422 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Southern by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 24,521,339 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,203,386,000 after purchasing an additional 1,075,768 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Southern in the 4th quarter valued at about $848,019,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Southern by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,599,710 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $543,288,000 after purchasing an additional 194,114 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Southern during the fourth quarter worth approximately $315,290,000. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:SO opened at $91.99 on Tuesday. The Southern Company has a 12-month low of $67.53 and a 12-month high of $94.45. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $87.51 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $87.27. The firm has a market cap of $100.89 billion, a PE ratio of 22.94, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60.

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

Southern Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th were paid a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.13%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 71.82%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.12, for a total value of $2,997,532.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 106,819 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,946,985.28. The trade was a 23.16 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a 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 that occurred 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 13,236 shares in the company, valued at $1,138,296. This represents a 52.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 47,855 shares of company stock valued at $4,348,784 over the last quarter. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on SO. Guggenheim cut Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Scotiabank raised their price target on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Southern in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Southern currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $91.46.

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.