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

OneAscent Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 30.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 39,448 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,218 shares during the period. Southern accounts for about 1.3% of OneAscent Wealth Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest holding. OneAscent Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $3,247,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Townsquare Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Southern by 40.8% during the third quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 26,530 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,392,000 after acquiring an additional 7,694 shares during the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its position in shares of Southern by 4.7% during the third quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 213,985 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $19,297,000 after purchasing an additional 9,689 shares in the last quarter. Fiduciary Trust Co increased its holdings in shares of Southern by 4.0% in the third quarter. Fiduciary Trust Co now owns 7,568 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $682,000 after purchasing an additional 289 shares during the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its position in shares of Southern by 2.8% in the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 190,678 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $17,195,000 after buying an additional 5,242 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CWS Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Southern by 7.9% during the third quarter. CWS Financial Advisors LLC now owns 11,866 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,070,000 after buying an additional 871 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In other news, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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. The trade was a 52.35 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 102,090 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,148,284.90. This represents a 1.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 47,855 shares of company stock valued at $4,348,784 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on SO. UBS Group increased their target price on Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Mizuho increased their price target on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Morgan Stanley restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Southern in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Guggenheim cut Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Southern presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $91.46.

Southern Stock Up 1.2 %

NYSE:SO opened at $91.10 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $87.34 and a 200-day simple moving average of $87.27. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60. The company has a market cap of $99.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46. The Southern Company has a twelve month low of $67.53 and a twelve month high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released 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 analysts’ expectations of $5.90 billion. Southern had a net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 12.23%. Analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were issued a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.16%. 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.