The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Shares Bought by NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC

NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC raised its stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 10.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,748 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 629 shares during the period. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $555,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Crews Bank & Trust acquired a new position in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter worth approximately $364,000. Level Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter worth approximately $343,000. Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Southern by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 85,624 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $7,049,000 after buying an additional 3,029 shares during the period. Vest Financial LLC boosted its position in shares of Southern by 42.6% during the fourth quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 15,470 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,273,000 after buying an additional 4,625 shares during the period. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Southern by 56.6% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,547 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $292,000 after buying an additional 1,282 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In other Southern news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.12, for a total transaction of $2,997,532.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 106,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,946,985.28. The trade was a 23.16% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 directly owns 102,090 shares in the company, valued at $9,148,284.90. This trade represents a 1.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Southern Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:SO opened at $88.65 on Friday. The Southern Company has a one year low of $76.87 and a one year high of $94.45. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $89.85 and a 200-day moving average of $87.23. The company has a market capitalization of $97.43 billion, a PE ratio of 22.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.40. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.23 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.03. Southern had a return on equity of 12.23% and a net margin of 16.47%. The company had revenue of $7.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.17 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.03 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.74 per share. This is an increase from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.34%. Southern’s payout ratio is 70.64%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SO has been the subject of several analyst reports. Barclays boosted their price objective on Southern from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Mizuho boosted their target price on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Southern from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $94.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Southern in a report on Thursday, March 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $92.21.

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.