Arlington Trust Co LLC Grows Holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Arlington Trust Co LLC grew its stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 21.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,418 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,312 shares during the quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $611,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Southern by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 24,521,339 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,203,386,000 after acquiring an additional 1,075,768 shares in the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Southern by 17,272.6% in the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 14,647,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,320,866,000 after purchasing an additional 14,562,689 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Southern by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,405,596 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $577,657,000 after purchasing an additional 52,414 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank raised its position in Southern by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 3,245,500 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $292,679,000 after purchasing an additional 15,300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Synovus Financial Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 72.4% in the 3rd quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 3,077,959 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $277,570,000 after buying an additional 1,293,072 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Southern Stock Up 0.9 %

Southern stock opened at $84.53 on Monday. The Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $65.80 and a fifty-two week high of $94.45. The company has a market cap of $92.62 billion, a PE ratio of 19.66, a PEG ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.53. 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 business’s 50-day simple moving average is $83.37 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $86.69.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be issued a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 66.98%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Southern news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.90, for a total value of $100,503.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 88,393 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,592,958.70. The trade was a 1.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Mizuho upped their target price on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Guggenheim downgraded Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Barclays upped their price objective on Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on shares of Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $89.79.

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.