The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Shares Purchased by Moors & Cabot Inc.

Moors & Cabot Inc. grew its position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 2.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 64,456 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,412 shares during the period. Moors & Cabot Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $5,306,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP purchased a new position in Southern in the third quarter valued at approximately $725,000. Tyler Stone Wealth Management raised its holdings in Southern by 154.1% in the third quarter. Tyler Stone Wealth Management now owns 3,586 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $323,000 after buying an additional 2,175 shares during the period. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Southern by 1.8% in the third quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 19,073 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,720,000 after buying an additional 332 shares during the period. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC raised its holdings in Southern by 69.5% in the third quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC now owns 4,931 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $445,000 after buying an additional 2,021 shares during the period. Finally, Kennebec Savings Bank purchased a new position in Southern in the third quarter valued at approximately $67,000. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Southern

In other Southern news, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of Southern 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,236 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,138,296. The trade was a 52.35 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.61, for a total transaction of $100,811.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 102,090 shares in the company, valued at $9,148,284.90. This trade represents a 1.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 47,855 shares of company stock valued at $4,348,784. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on SO. Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Guggenheim downgraded shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $90.54.

Southern Trading Down 3.1 %

Shares of Southern stock opened at $90.07 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $85.43 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $87.07. The Southern Company has a 12-month low of $67.53 and a 12-month high of $94.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60. The company has a market capitalization of $98.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.46, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 EPS 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 business had revenue of $6.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.90 billion. On average, analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th were given a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. Southern’s payout ratio is currently 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.