BlueChip Wealth Advisors LLC Has $795,000 Stock Holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

BlueChip Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 22.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,654 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,767 shares during the period. BlueChip Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $795,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In other Southern news, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.00, for a total transaction of $1,250,440.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,236 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,138,296. This represents a 52.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of Southern stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.61, for a total transaction of $100,811.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 102,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,148,284.90. This trade represents a 1.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 47,855 shares of company stock worth $4,348,784 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on SO shares. Morgan Stanley reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Southern in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Scotiabank boosted 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 lowered shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $91.46.

Southern Stock Up 1.2 %

SO opened at $91.10 on Friday. The Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $67.53 and a fifty-two week high of $94.45. The company has a market capitalization of $99.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.72, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.66. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $87.34 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $87.27.

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

Southern Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th were paid a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is 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.