The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Shares Acquired by Wedbush Securities Inc.

Wedbush Securities Inc. increased its stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 2.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 21,280 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 488 shares during the quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $1,752,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of SO. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Southern by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,439,594 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $200,827,000 after purchasing an additional 72,370 shares in the last quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC lifted its holdings in Southern by 14.5% during the 4th quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC now owns 13,886 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,143,000 after buying an additional 1,762 shares during the last quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter worth about $1,234,000. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Southern in the 4th quarter valued at about $34,291,000. Finally, Smith Moore & CO. raised its position in shares of Southern by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Smith Moore & CO. now owns 20,896 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,720,000 after acquiring an additional 628 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have commented on SO shares. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Southern in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Guggenheim cut Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $91.46.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In other news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of Southern stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.12, for a total transaction of $2,997,532.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 106,819 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,946,985.28. This trade represents a 23.16 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the company’s 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 owns 102,090 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,148,284.90. This represents a 1.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 47,855 shares of company stock valued at $4,348,784. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Southern Price Performance

Southern stock opened at $89.07 on Friday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $97.70 billion, a PE ratio of 22.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $88.14 and a 200-day simple moving average of $87.33. The Southern Company has a 12 month low of $67.53 and a 12 month high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced 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 net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 12.23%. The firm had revenue of $6.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.90 billion. Equities analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current 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 given a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. Southern’s 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.