Luts & Greenleigh Group Inc. Invests $227,000 in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Luts & Greenleigh Group Inc. bought a new position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 2,927 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $227,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. Scarborough Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Southern in the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its position in Southern by 62.0% in the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 444 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 170 shares during the last quarter. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Southern by 3,628.6% during the first quarter. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 522 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 508 shares during the period. Finally, Cassady Schiller Wealth Management LLC grew 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 worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 176 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In other Southern news, CEO Anthony L. Wilson sold 6,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.61, for a total value of $535,509.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 85,309 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,620,831.49. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Anthony L. Wilson sold 6,900 shares of Southern stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.61, for a total transaction of $535,509.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 85,309 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,620,831.49. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.54, for a total value of $587,830.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,467 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,981,575.18. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 27,845 shares of company stock worth $2,266,455 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE SO opened at $89.90 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $98.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.23, a P/E/G ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.52. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $85.38 and its two-hundred day moving average is $78.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.91. The Southern Company has a 52-week low of $61.56 and a 52-week high of $90.34.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.10 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.19. Southern had a net margin of 17.67% and a return on equity of 12.88%. The business had revenue of $6.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.10 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.79 earnings per share. Southern’s quarterly revenue was up 12.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 4.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Investors of record on Monday, August 19th were given a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.20%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 19th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 74.42%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Southern from $80.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Southern from $72.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Barclays raised their price target on Southern from $66.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Southern from $87.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Southern presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $84.71.

Southern Company 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.