The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Shares Acquired by Providence Capital Advisors LLC

Providence Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 0.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 41,073 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 120 shares during the quarter. Providence Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $3,381,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Southern by 5.4% during 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 during the period. Cadence Bank boosted its stake in Southern by 2.8% during the third quarter. Cadence Bank now owns 15,595 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,406,000 after buying an additional 430 shares during the period. Townsquare Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Southern by 40.8% during the third 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 during the last quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of Southern by 44.8% in 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, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 213,985 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $19,297,000 after acquiring an additional 9,689 shares during the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of SO stock opened at $90.12 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $98.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.47, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $87.20 and a 200 day moving average price of $87.26. The Southern Company has a 12 month low of $67.53 and a 12 month high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its earnings results 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). The business had revenue of $6.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.90 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.23% and a net margin of 16.47%. Sell-side analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Southern news, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of Southern stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.00, for a total transaction of $1,250,440.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 13,236 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,138,296. The trade was a 52.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 102,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,148,284.90. The trade was a 1.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 47,855 shares of company stock worth $4,348,784 in the last ninety days. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SO has been the subject of several research reports. Scotiabank lifted 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. Mizuho boosted their price objective on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Guggenheim cut Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Southern in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $91.46.

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.