WBI Investments LLC Buys New Stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

WBI Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 13,383 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $938,000.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in Southern by 62.5% in the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 689 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 265 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE raised its holdings in shares of Southern by 2.9% in the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 388,966 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $25,174,000 after acquiring an additional 10,975 shares in the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC increased its holdings in Southern by 2.7% during the third quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 306,876 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $19,860,000 after buying an additional 8,038 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Southern by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 14,080 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $911,000 after acquiring an additional 329 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Second Half Financial Partners LLC boosted its position in Southern by 2,667.6% during the third quarter. Second Half Financial Partners LLC now owns 125,319 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $8,111,000 after purchasing an additional 120,791 shares in the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on SO shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Southern from $72.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Bank of America increased their price objective on Southern from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. UBS Group downgraded Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $78.00 to $76.00 in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Argus lifted their target price on shares of Southern from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 15th. Finally, Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Southern from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $75.73.

Southern Stock Performance

SO stock traded down $0.93 during trading on Thursday, hitting $77.76. 1,553,043 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,775,060. 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 Southern Company has a 1 year low of $61.56 and a 1 year high of $80.14. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $73.07 and its 200 day simple moving average is $70.67. The company has a market cap of $85.12 billion, a PE ratio of 20.33, a P/E/G ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 0.48.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The utilities provider reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $6.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.59 billion. Southern had a net margin of 16.74% and a return on equity of 12.07%. The firm’s revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.79 earnings per share. On average, equities 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 6th. Shareholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.70%. This is an increase from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is currently 74.42%.

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.