City State Bank Increases Stock Holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

City State Bank increased its holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 2.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,187 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 170 shares during the period. City State Bank’s holdings in Southern were worth $592,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Fiduciary Alliance LLC grew its position in Southern by 153.4% during the fourth quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC now owns 26,548 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,185,000 after acquiring an additional 16,071 shares during the period. Aprio Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Southern by 42.2% during the fourth quarter. Aprio Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,340 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $933,000 after acquiring an additional 3,364 shares during the period. Czech National Bank grew its position in Southern by 6.7% during the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 237,566 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $19,556,000 after acquiring an additional 14,824 shares during the period. Trinity Financial Advisors LLC grew its position in Southern by 11.6% during the fourth quarter. Trinity Financial Advisors LLC now owns 4,056 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $333,000 after acquiring an additional 421 shares during the period. Finally, HBW Advisory Services LLC grew its position in Southern by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. HBW Advisory Services LLC now owns 9,400 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $774,000 after acquiring an additional 429 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on SO. Barclays boosted their price target on Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Southern in a research note on Friday, September 20th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $94.00 price target on the stock. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Guggenheim upped their price objective on Southern from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Southern currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $90.14.

Southern Price Performance

NYSE SO traded down $0.61 on Monday, reaching $80.71. 728,486 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,356,566. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $85.22 and its 200 day simple moving average is $86.13. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66. The company has a market cap of $88.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.77, a P/E/G ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 0.52. The Southern Company has a 12 month low of $65.80 and a 12 month high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $7.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.14 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.78% and a net margin of 17.87%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.42 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 18th were paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.57%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 18th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is presently 66.98%.

Insider Transactions at Southern

In other news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.90, for a total transaction of $100,503.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 88,393 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,592,958.70. This trade represents a 1.31 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.