ICW Investment Advisors LLC Purchases 324 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

ICW Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 1.8% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 18,380 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 324 shares during the quarter. ICW Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $1,513,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SO. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Southern by 19.3% during the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 126,185 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $11,379,000 after buying an additional 20,443 shares during the last quarter. Nwam LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southern during the third quarter valued at approximately $1,032,000. Certified Advisory Corp raised its position in shares of Southern by 28.3% during the third quarter. Certified Advisory Corp now owns 9,994 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $901,000 after buying an additional 2,207 shares during the last quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Southern by 11.4% during the third quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. now owns 63,492 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,726,000 after buying an additional 6,504 shares during the last quarter. Finally, StoneX Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Southern by 2.0% during the third quarter. StoneX Group Inc. now owns 64,207 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,790,000 after buying an additional 1,280 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Southern Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of SO opened at $89.21 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $97.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.25, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46. The Southern Company has a 12-month low of $67.53 and a 12-month high of $94.45. 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 firm has a fifty day moving average price of $86.69 and a 200-day moving average price of $87.24.

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

Southern Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.23%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is currently 71.82%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on SO shares. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday. Scotiabank boosted their price target on shares of Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Southern from $88.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Guggenheim cut shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. One research 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Southern currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $91.46.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of Southern stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.00, for a total value of $1,250,440.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,236 shares in the company, valued at $1,138,296. The trade was a 52.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of Southern stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.61, for a total value of $100,811.25. Following the completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 47,855 shares of company stock valued at $4,348,784. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.