McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. Increases Holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. increased its stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 6.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 6,495 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 412 shares during the quarter. McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $455,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Prudential PLC grew its position in Southern by 23.4% during the first quarter. Prudential PLC now owns 19,438 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,409,000 after buying an additional 3,689 shares in the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust grew its position in Southern by 33.5% during the first quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 1,727 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $126,000 after buying an additional 433 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd grew its position in Southern by 63.0% during the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,902 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $138,000 after buying an additional 735 shares in the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its position in Southern by 0.4% during the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 49,925 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,621,000 after buying an additional 221 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its position in Southern by 35.8% during the first quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 907,132 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $65,776,000 after buying an additional 239,325 shares in the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Stephen E. Kuczynski sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.94, for a total value of $334,700.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 129,552 shares in the company, valued at $8,672,210.88. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Stephen E. Kuczynski sold 5,000 shares of Southern stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.94, for a total value of $334,700.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 129,552 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,672,210.88. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider David P. Poroch sold 10,099 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.96, for a total value of $706,526.04. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 28,691 shares in the company, valued at $2,007,222.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 25,998 shares of company stock valued at $1,806,063. 0.28% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SO has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Citigroup assumed coverage on Southern in a research report on Friday, December 8th. They set a “buy” rating and a $82.00 target price for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Southern from $69.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 29th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $80.00 price target on shares of Southern in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Barclays dropped their price target on Southern from $68.00 to $67.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 17th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Southern from $75.00 to $72.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Southern currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $73.46.

Southern Stock Up 1.0 %

SO traded up $0.69 during trading on Thursday, hitting $71.74. 4,731,174 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,607,858. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $68.43 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $68.85. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62. The Southern Company has a 12-month low of $61.56 and a 12-month high of $75.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $78.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.76, a PEG ratio of 4.33 and a beta of 0.49.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The utilities provider reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $6.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.90 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 11.40% and a net margin of 15.79%. The company’s revenue was down 14.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.26 EPS. Analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 20th were issued a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 16th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.90%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is currently 77.14%.

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.