Westwood Holdings Group Inc. Has $73.79 Million Stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Westwood Holdings Group Inc. grew its holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 1,747.3% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 896,323 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 847,803 shares during the period. Westwood Holdings Group Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $73,785,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Merit Financial Group LLC increased its stake in Southern by 45.1% during the 4th quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 60,532 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,983,000 after acquiring an additional 18,809 shares during the period. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southern in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. TruWealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Southern by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. TruWealth Advisors LLC now owns 5,437 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $448,000 after buying an additional 204 shares during the last quarter. Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Southern during the 4th quarter worth approximately $319,000. Finally, Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Southern by 10.6% in the fourth quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 5,972 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $492,000 after acquiring an additional 572 shares in the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Southern Stock Up 1.5%

SO stock opened at $88.72 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $97.50 billion, a PE ratio of 22.12, a PEG 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. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $89.90 and its 200-day moving average price is $87.13. The Southern Company has a one year low of $76.64 and a one year high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $7.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.17 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.23% and a net margin of 16.47%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.03 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate 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 given a $0.74 dividend. This is a positive change from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.34%. Southern’s payout ratio is presently 70.64%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In other Southern news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.61, for a total value of $100,811.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 102,090 shares in the company, valued at $9,148,284.90. The trade was a 1.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.12, for a total value of $2,997,532.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 106,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,946,985.28. This represents a 23.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.16% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on SO shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Southern from $95.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. UBS Group raised their target price on Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Barclays boosted their price target on Southern from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Guggenheim reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $93.00 target price on shares of Southern in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Southern from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $94.00 price target for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $92.21.

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.