Davis R M Inc. Has $345,000 Stock Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Davis R M Inc. grew its stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 34.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,926 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,269 shares during the period. Davis R M Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $345,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. BKM Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. Valley National Advisers Inc. increased its position in shares of Southern by 63.9% during the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 526 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 205 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Trust Company N.A bought a new stake in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter worth about $46,000. Atticus Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Southern by 30.4% during the third quarter. Atticus Wealth Management LLC now owns 652 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 152 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC grew its position in Southern by 62.5% in the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 689 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 265 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Southern Trading Down 1.2 %

NYSE SO traded down $0.95 during trading on Thursday, hitting $77.74. 704,974 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,766,625. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.65. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $73.07 and a two-hundred day moving average of $70.67. The firm has a market cap of $85.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.33, a PEG ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 0.48. The Southern Company has a 12-month low of $61.56 and a 12-month high of $80.14.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The utilities provider reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.13. Southern had a net margin of 16.74% and a return on equity of 12.07%. The business had revenue of $6.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.59 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.79 earnings per share. Southern’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 3.99 EPS for the current year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 6th. Investors of record on Monday, May 20th will be given a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 17th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.70%. This is an increase from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 74.42%.

Insider Activity at Southern

In related news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 9,126 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.04, for a total transaction of $684,815.04. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 121,504 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,117,660.16. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Southern news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 9,126 shares of Southern stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.04, for a total value of $684,815.04. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 121,504 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,117,660.16. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Stephen E. Kuczynski sold 5,000 shares of Southern stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.92, for a total transaction of $344,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 126,528 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,720,309.76. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on SO shares. Argus upped their price objective on shares of Southern from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 15th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Southern from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Southern from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Southern from $72.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Southern from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Southern presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $75.73.

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.