13,991 Shares in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Purchased by Kiker Wealth Management LLC

Kiker Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 13,991 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,152,000. Southern accounts for 0.9% of Kiker Wealth Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 27th largest holding.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in SO. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of 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. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Southern by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,599,710 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $543,288,000 after purchasing an additional 194,114 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $315,290,000. Synovus Financial Corp increased its position in shares of Southern by 72.4% during the third quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 3,077,959 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $277,570,000 after buying an additional 1,293,072 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi boosted its stake in Southern by 11.4% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 2,780,137 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $230,807,000 after buying an additional 284,022 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Southern

In related news, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the 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 $1,138,296. This represents a 52.35 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.12, for a total value of $2,997,532.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 106,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,946,985.28. This represents a 23.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 47,855 shares of company stock valued at $4,348,784. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SO has been the topic of several analyst reports. Guggenheim downgraded Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Mizuho lifted their target price on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Southern from $88.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Southern presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $91.00.

Southern Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE SO opened at $90.01 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60. The company has a 50-day moving average of $86.53 and a 200 day moving average of $87.24. The Southern Company has a 12-month low of $67.53 and a 12-month high of $94.45. The stock has a market cap of $98.72 billion, a PE ratio of 22.45, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by ($0.01). Southern had a return on equity of 12.23% and a net margin of 16.47%. The business had revenue of $6.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.90 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were issued a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.20%. 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.