DAVENPORT & Co LLC Buys 4,134 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

DAVENPORT & Co LLC lifted its stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 4.8% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 90,260 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,134 shares during the quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $7,430,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new position in Southern in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Southern by 168.1% in the third quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC now owns 311 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 195 shares during the period. West Branch Capital LLC raised its position in Southern by 34.7% during the 3rd quarter. West Branch Capital LLC now owns 501 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 129 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP acquired a new position in Southern during the 3rd quarter worth about $49,000. Finally, Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southern in the 3rd quarter valued at about $49,000. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SO has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Guggenheim downgraded shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Scotiabank increased their price target on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $90.14.

Southern Stock Performance

NYSE SO opened at $83.91 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $91.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.51, a PEG ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $83.92 and a 200 day simple moving average of $86.60. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66. The Southern Company has a 12-month low of $65.80 and a 12-month high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.10. Southern had a net margin of 17.87% and a return on equity of 12.78%. The company had revenue of $7.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.14 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.42 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.43%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is 66.98%.

Insider Transactions at Southern

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

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.