EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC Has $2.26 Million Stock Holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 2.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 27,468 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 550 shares during the quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $2,261,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Southern by 20.3% during the fourth quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 65,182 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,366,000 after purchasing an additional 10,999 shares in the last quarter. Warwick Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Southern during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $234,000. HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Southern by 44.8% during the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 1,504,693 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $123,866,000 after purchasing an additional 465,399 shares in the last quarter. Windle Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in Southern by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Windle Wealth LLC now owns 88,301 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $7,269,000 after purchasing an additional 1,642 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Glaxis Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Southern during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $412,000. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In other Southern news, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.00, for a total transaction of $1,250,440.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 13,236 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,138,296. The trade was a 52.35 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.61, for a total transaction of $100,811.25. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 102,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,148,284.90. The trade was a 1.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 47,855 shares of company stock worth $4,348,784. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on SO shares. Guggenheim downgraded Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Scotiabank lifted their target price on shares of Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Mizuho lifted their target price on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $90.54.

Southern Stock Performance

SO stock opened at $88.72 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.66. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $85.56 and a 200 day moving average price of $87.08. The Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $67.53 and a fifty-two week high of $94.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $97.31 billion, a PE ratio of 22.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.51 by ($0.01). Southern had a return on equity of 12.23% and a net margin of 16.47%. The company had revenue of $6.34 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.90 billion. Analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were given a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.25%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. Southern’s payout ratio is 71.82%.

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.