The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Stock Position Raised by Concord Wealth Partners

Concord Wealth Partners increased its position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 5.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 40,161 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,052 shares during the period. Concord Wealth Partners’ holdings in Southern were worth $3,306,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SO. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Southern by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. now owns 3,246 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $293,000 after purchasing an additional 119 shares in the last quarter. Abel Hall LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Southern by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Abel Hall LLC now owns 6,830 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $616,000 after buying an additional 120 shares during the period. DT Investment Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Southern by 5.8% in the third quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC now owns 2,201 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $198,000 after purchasing an additional 121 shares during the last quarter. Birchcreek Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Southern by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. Birchcreek Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,836 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $256,000 after buying an additional 121 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Truvestments Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Southern by 4.3% in the third quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC now owns 3,011 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $272,000 after acquiring an additional 123 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SO has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Barclays raised their price objective on Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Scotiabank upped their target price on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Guggenheim cut Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Southern presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $90.14.

Insider Activity at Southern

In other Southern news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of Southern stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.90, for a total transaction of $100,503.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 88,393 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,592,958.70. This trade represents a 1.31 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Southern Stock Down 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE:SO opened at $83.91 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $91.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.51, a PEG ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.52. The Southern Company has a 52-week low of $65.80 and a 52-week high of $94.45. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $83.99 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $86.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.91.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.10. Southern had a net margin of 17.87% and a return on equity of 12.78%. The business had revenue of $7.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.14 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.42 EPS. Southern’s revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be issued a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.43%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is presently 66.98%.

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.