Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC Buys 999 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 2.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 49,751 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 999 shares during the quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $3,488,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. BKM Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. Valley National Advisers Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Southern by 63.9% in the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 526 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 205 shares during the last quarter. Cassady Schiller Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Southern by 46.3% in the fourth quarter. Cassady Schiller Wealth Management LLC now owns 556 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 176 shares during the last quarter. CNB Bank raised its holdings in shares of Southern by 1,021.4% in the third quarter. CNB Bank now owns 628 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 572 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Your Advocates Ltd. LLP bought a new position in shares of Southern in the third quarter valued at about $42,000. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group cut Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the company from $78.00 to $76.00 in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Southern from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Scotiabank lowered their price objective on Southern from $80.00 to $77.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Southern from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $76.00 price objective (up from $72.00) on shares of Southern in a research report on Monday, April 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, six have assigned 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 “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $74.36.

Southern Trading Down 1.6 %

Shares of Southern stock traded down $1.16 during trading on Friday, hitting $73.21. 5,478,762 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,829,927. The firm has a market capitalization of $80.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.66 and a beta of 0.49. The Southern Company has a 1-year low of $61.56 and a 1-year high of $75.80. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $69.64 and its 200 day moving average price is $69.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.56.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The utilities provider reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.05. Southern had a return on equity of 11.40% and a net margin of 15.79%. The company had revenue of $6.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.90 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.26 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 14.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 3.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 6th. Investors of record on Monday, May 20th will be given a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 17th. This is a positive change from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.93%. Southern’s payout ratio is currently 77.14%.

Insider Activity at Southern

In related news, CEO Stephen E. Kuczynski sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.94, for a total value of $334,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 129,552 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,672,210.88. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Southern news, EVP Christopher Cummiskey sold 899 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.06, for a total value of $60,286.94. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 22,502 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,508,984.12. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Stephen E. Kuczynski sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.94, for a total value of $334,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 129,552 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,672,210.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 10,899 shares of company stock worth $739,587. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Southern Profile

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.