Crowley Wealth Management Inc. Purchases New Stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Crowley Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 2,480 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $204,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in Southern during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. YANKCOM Partnership acquired a new stake in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. WFA Asset Management Corp lifted its stake in Southern by 84.9% during the fourth quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 429 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares during the last quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. boosted its holdings in Southern by 244.4% in the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 434 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 308 shares during the period. Finally, Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter worth $35,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Southern Trading Down 0.8 %

Southern stock opened at $89.21 on Friday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $86.69 and its 200-day simple moving average is $87.25. The Southern Company has a 52 week low of $67.53 and a 52 week high of $94.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $97.84 billion, a PE ratio of 22.25, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.67.

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

Southern Announces Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on SO. Scotiabank boosted 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. UBS Group upped their target price on Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Southern from $88.00 to $91.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Guggenheim lowered Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $91.46.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Southern news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of Southern stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.12, for a total transaction of $2,997,532.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 106,819 shares in the company, valued at $9,946,985.28. The trade was a 23.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were 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 owns 102,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,148,284.90. This represents a 1.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 47,855 shares of company stock valued at $4,348,784 over the last three months. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.