Callahan Advisors LLC Makes New Investment in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Callahan Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 2,575 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $212,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC purchased a new position in Southern in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. YANKCOM Partnership acquired a new stake in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Southern by 168.1% in the third quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC now owns 311 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 195 shares during the period. WFA Asset Management Corp grew its stake in Southern by 84.9% during the 4th 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. Finally, Valley National Advisers Inc. increased its holdings in Southern by 244.4% during the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 434 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 308 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Scotiabank lifted their price target 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 research report on Thursday, January 23rd. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, 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 note on Monday, February 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Southern presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $89.79.

Insider Activity at Southern

In other 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 value of $1,250,440.00. Following the sale, 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.90, for a total value of $100,503.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 88,393 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,592,958.70. This represents a 1.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Southern Stock Up 0.3 %

SO stock opened at $85.82 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $83.41 and a 200 day moving average price of $86.82. The Southern Company has a 12 month low of $65.99 and a 12 month high of $94.45. The company has a market cap of $94.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.66.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be issued a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.36%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is currently 66.98%.

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.