Jackson Thornton Wealth Management LLC Boosts Stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Jackson Thornton Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 30.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,903 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,237 shares during the quarter. Jackson Thornton Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $1,144,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of SO. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. YANKCOM Partnership purchased a new position in Southern in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. WFA Asset Management Corp lifted its stake in Southern by 84.9% in the 4th quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 429 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 197 shares in the last quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. lifted its stake in Southern by 244.4% in the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 434 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 308 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in Southern in the 4th quarter valued at about $35,000. 64.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Southern from $88.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Guggenheim lowered shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. One research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $91.46.

Southern Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE SO opened at $89.21 on Monday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $86.69 and a 200-day simple moving average of $87.24. The company 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 company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.66. The Southern Company has a 1 year low of $67.53 and a 1 year high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced its quarterly 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 firm had revenue of $6.34 billion for 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%. On average, equities research analysts predict 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. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th were issued a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.23%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 71.82%.

Insider Activity at Southern

In related news, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of Southern stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were 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 owns 13,236 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,138,296. This trade represents a 52.35 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of Southern stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 106,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,946,985.28. This trade represents a 23.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 47,855 shares of company stock worth $4,348,784. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.