The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Stake Boosted by IAG Wealth Partners LLC

IAG Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 295.2% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 818 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 611 shares during the quarter. IAG Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $57,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Advisory Alpha LLC raised its stake in shares of Southern by 6.2% during the third quarter. Advisory Alpha LLC now owns 4,532 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $293,000 after purchasing an additional 263 shares in the last quarter. Secure Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Southern by 42.9% during the third quarter. Secure Asset Management LLC now owns 4,320 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $280,000 after purchasing an additional 1,297 shares in the last quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC raised its stake in shares of Southern by 296.8% during the third quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC now owns 3,825 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $248,000 after purchasing an additional 2,861 shares in the last quarter. Czech National Bank raised its stake in shares of Southern by 47.7% during the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 190,606 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $12,336,000 after purchasing an additional 61,525 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Asset Management One Co. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Southern by 0.7% during the third quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 533,736 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $34,543,000 after purchasing an additional 3,847 shares in the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In other news, CEO Stephen E. Kuczynski sold 5,000 shares of Southern stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.92, for a total transaction of $344,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 126,528 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,720,309.76. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, EVP Christopher Cummiskey sold 899 shares of Southern stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.06, for a total transaction of $60,286.94. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 22,502 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,508,984.12. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Stephen E. Kuczynski sold 5,000 shares of Southern stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.92, for a total value of $344,600.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 126,528 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,720,309.76. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 10,899 shares of company stock valued at $739,587 in the last 90 days. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Southern Trading Down 1.6 %

Shares of SO opened at $73.21 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $69.64 and its 200 day moving average price is $69.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $80.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.17, a P/E/G ratio of 4.59 and a beta of 0.49. The Southern Company has a 1-year low of $61.56 and a 1-year high of $75.80. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The utilities provider reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.05. Southern had a return on equity of 11.40% and a net margin of 15.79%. The firm had revenue of $6.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.90 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.26 EPS. Southern’s revenue was down 14.2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 3.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 17th. This is a boost from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. Southern’s payout ratio is 77.14%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SO has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Southern from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $80.00 target price on shares of Southern in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $76.00 target price (up from $72.00) on shares of Southern in a report on Monday, April 1st. UBS Group lowered Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $78.00 to $76.00 in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Southern from $75.00 to $72.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Southern presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $74.36.

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.