Freedom Investment Management Inc. Raises Holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Freedom Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 3.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 10,939 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 401 shares during the quarter. Freedom Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $900,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. M&T Bank Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Southern by 1.3% during the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 162,983 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $14,697,000 after purchasing an additional 2,056 shares during the last quarter. Chelsea Counsel Co. increased its stake in shares of Southern by 22.2% during the 3rd quarter. Chelsea Counsel Co. now owns 2,755 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $248,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Southern by 0.5% in the third quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 76,952 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,940,000 after acquiring an additional 347 shares during the last quarter. Sculati Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Southern by 0.9% during the third quarter. Sculati Wealth Management LLC now owns 16,410 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,480,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Finally, World Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Southern by 106.4% in the 3rd quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 11,082 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $999,000 after purchasing an additional 5,713 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Southern Price Performance

Shares of SO opened at $91.69 on Friday. The Southern Company has a 12 month low of $71.66 and a 12 month high of $94.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.66. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $89.31 and a 200 day moving average price of $87.30. The company has a market cap of $100.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.87, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.39.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued 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 analyst estimates of $5.90 billion. On average, research analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th were given a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.14%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is presently 71.82%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on SO. Mizuho lifted their price objective on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Southern in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Guggenheim lowered shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Southern from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $94.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $92.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 102,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,148,284.90. This trade represents a 1.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.12, for a total transaction of $2,997,532.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 106,819 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,946,985.28. This trade represents a 23.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 47,855 shares of company stock worth $4,348,784. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Southern Company 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.