Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC Has $22.25 Million Stock Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC boosted its stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 4.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 270,267 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 11,295 shares during the quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $22,248,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of SO. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Southern by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 108,361 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $9,772,000 after purchasing an additional 5,589 shares in the last quarter. Cadence Bank increased its stake in Southern by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Cadence Bank now owns 15,595 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,406,000 after acquiring an additional 430 shares during the period. Townsquare Capital LLC raised its holdings in Southern by 40.8% in the 3rd quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 26,530 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,392,000 after acquiring an additional 7,694 shares in the last quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Southern by 44.8% during the 3rd quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 31,832 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,871,000 after acquiring an additional 9,855 shares during the period. Finally, Providence Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in Southern by 1.0% in the third quarter. Providence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 40,953 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,693,000 after purchasing an additional 418 shares in the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SO has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. UBS Group upped 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. Guggenheim lowered Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Morgan Stanley reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Southern in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Southern presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $91.46.

Insider Activity

In other Southern news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The shares were 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 trade represents a 23.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.61, for a total value of $100,811.25. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 102,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,148,284.90. This trade 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 in the last quarter. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of Southern stock opened at $90.12 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $98.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.47, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60. The Southern Company has a twelve month low of $67.53 and a twelve month high of $94.45. The company’s fifty day moving average is $87.20 and its 200 day moving average is $87.26.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by ($0.01). Southern had a return on equity of 12.23% and a net margin of 16.47%. The company had revenue of $6.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.90 billion. Sell-side analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th were paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.20%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is currently 71.82%.

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.