BIP Wealth LLC Has $965,000 Stock Holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

BIP Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 14.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 11,720 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,472 shares during the quarter. BIP Wealth LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $965,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Southern during the fourth quarter worth $848,019,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter worth about $315,290,000. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its position in Southern by 325.7% in the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 4,322,931 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $355,864,000 after acquiring an additional 3,307,527 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its holdings in Southern by 562.9% during the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,368,788 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $112,679,000 after purchasing an additional 1,162,288 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Southern by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 102,790,453 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $8,461,710,000 after purchasing an additional 698,422 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In related news, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.00, for a total value of $1,250,440.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,236 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,138,296. This represents a 52.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,148,284.90. This represents a 1.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 47,855 shares of company stock valued at $4,348,784 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Southern Stock Down 0.4 %

SO opened at $91.06 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $90.09 and a 200 day moving average of $87.39. 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 Southern Company has a 12 month low of $74.88 and a 12 month high of $94.45. The company has a market cap of $100.18 billion, a PE ratio of 22.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.39.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $7.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.17 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.03 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current 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 $0.74 dividend. This is a boost from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.25%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is currently 73.82%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SO has been the subject of several recent research reports. Guggenheim reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $93.00 price target on shares of Southern in a research report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Southern from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $94.00 price target on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Southern from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Friday. Morgan Stanley restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Southern in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $93.07.

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.