EntryPoint Capital LLC Has $501,000 Stock Holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

EntryPoint Capital LLC increased its position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 52.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,085 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,088 shares during the period. EntryPoint Capital LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $501,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new stake in Southern during the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. YANKCOM Partnership acquired a new position in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in Southern during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $35,000. WFA Asset Management Corp grew its holdings in Southern by 84.9% in the 4th quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 429 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 197 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Valley National Advisers Inc. increased its position in Southern by 244.4% in the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 434 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 308 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SO has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Guggenheim downgraded shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Mizuho lifted their target price on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Southern from $88.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $91.46.

Southern Stock Down 1.3 %

SO opened at $87.73 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $96.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.88, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46. 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 simple moving average is $86.94 and its 200-day simple moving average is $87.23. The Southern Company has a twelve month low of $67.53 and a twelve month high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.51 by ($0.01). Southern had a return on equity of 12.23% and a net margin of 16.47%. The firm had revenue of $6.34 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.90 billion. Equities research analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were paid a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.28%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is currently 71.82%.

Insider Transactions at Southern

In other news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, 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 through this link. Also, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 13,236 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,138,296. This represents a 52.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 47,855 shares of company stock worth $4,348,784. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Southern 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.