Benjamin Edwards Inc. Purchases 3,511 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Benjamin Edwards Inc. lifted its holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 2.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 156,186 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,511 shares during the period. Benjamin Edwards Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $12,858,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in SO. Syverson Strege & Co grew its holdings in Southern by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Syverson Strege & Co now owns 4,264 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $351,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares during the period. Providence Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Southern by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Providence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 41,073 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,381,000 after buying an additional 120 shares during the period. Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC raised its stake in Southern by 15.9% during the 4th quarter. Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC now owns 895 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $74,000 after buying an additional 123 shares during the period. Elevate Wealth Advisory Inc. boosted its holdings in Southern by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Elevate Wealth Advisory Inc. now owns 6,200 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $510,000 after acquiring an additional 123 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Missouri Trust & Investment Co grew its stake in Southern by 23.1% in the fourth quarter. Missouri Trust & Investment Co now owns 671 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $55,000 after acquiring an additional 126 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Southern Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:SO opened at $91.06 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $100.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.39. The company’s 50-day moving average is $90.09 and its 200 day moving average is $87.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.67. The Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $74.88 and a fifty-two week high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.23 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $7.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.17 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.23% and a net margin of 16.47%. Southern’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.03 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be issued 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 3.25%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is 73.82%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Southern news, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.00, for a total value of $1,250,440.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 13,236 shares in the company, valued at $1,138,296. This trade represents a 52.35 % 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 dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.61, for a total value of $100,811.25. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 102,090 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,148,284.90. This represents a 1.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 47,855 shares of company stock worth $4,348,784 over the last quarter. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on SO. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Southern from $95.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday. Guggenheim restated a “neutral” rating and set a $93.00 price objective on shares of Southern in a report on Friday. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Southern from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Friday. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Southern from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $94.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Ten 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, Southern presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price 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.