Verus Financial Partners Inc. Purchases 178 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Verus Financial Partners Inc. increased its stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 3.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,208 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 178 shares during the period. Verus Financial Partners Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $429,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Southern by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 99,572,665 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,444,343,000 after purchasing an additional 352,023 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its stake in Southern by 5.0% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 38,906,760 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,518,045,000 after acquiring an additional 1,838,857 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in Southern by 1.6% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 10,737,843 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $694,953,000 after buying an additional 163,986 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley increased its holdings in shares of Southern by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 9,811,307 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $634,988,000 after acquiring an additional 349,122 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its position in shares of Southern by 38.5% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,547,188 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $488,461,000 after purchasing an additional 2,096,988 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Southern news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 9,126 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.04, for a total transaction of $684,815.04. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 121,504 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,117,660.16. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other Southern news, CEO Stephen E. Kuczynski sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.92, for a total value of $344,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 126,528 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,720,309.76. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 9,126 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.04, for a total value of $684,815.04. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 121,504 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,117,660.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 19,126 shares of company stock worth $1,364,115. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on SO. Barclays increased their price objective on Southern from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $76.00 target price (up from $72.00) on shares of Southern in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Southern from $72.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Scotiabank lowered their price objective on shares of Southern from $80.00 to $77.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $80.00 price target on shares of Southern in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Southern currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $74.71.

Southern Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of Southern stock traded up $0.28 during trading on Thursday, hitting $77.91. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,963,860 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,812,301. The stock has a market cap of $85.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.75 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.65. The Southern Company has a 52 week low of $61.56 and a 52 week high of $77.92. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $70.78 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $69.82.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The utilities provider reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $6.65 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.59 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.07% and a net margin of 16.74%. The firm’s revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.79 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 3.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 6th. Investors of record on Monday, May 20th will be issued a $0.72 dividend. This is a positive change from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 17th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.70%. Southern’s payout ratio is presently 74.42%.

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.