Field & Main Bank Buys 805 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Field & Main Bank boosted its stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 13.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 6,655 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 805 shares during the quarter. Field & Main Bank’s holdings in Southern were worth $467,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Avestar Capital LLC bought a new position in Southern in the 3rd quarter valued at $224,000. Fulton Breakefield Broenniman LLC lifted its position in Southern by 6.7% during the 3rd quarter. Fulton Breakefield Broenniman LLC now owns 3,693 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $239,000 after buying an additional 233 shares in the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management grew its holdings in Southern by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 66,713 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,432,000 after acquiring an additional 2,342 shares during the last quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. increased its position in Southern by 8.3% in the 3rd quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 5,218 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $338,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Commonwealth Equity Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Southern by 1.6% in the third quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 947,275 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $61,308,000 after acquiring an additional 15,059 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Christopher Cummiskey sold 899 shares of Southern stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.06, for a total transaction of $60,286.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 22,502 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,508,984.12. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Christopher Cummiskey sold 899 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.06, for a total value of $60,286.94. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 22,502 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,508,984.12. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Stephen E. Kuczynski sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 126,528 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,720,309.76. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 10,899 shares of company stock valued at $739,587. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on SO. Scotiabank lowered their price target on shares of Southern from $80.00 to $77.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 22nd. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $76.00 price target (up previously from $72.00) on shares of Southern in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $80.00 price objective on shares of Southern in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Southern from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Finally, Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Southern from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Southern currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $74.36.

Southern Stock Up 1.6 %

NYSE:SO traded up $1.18 on Monday, hitting $74.39. 3,852,201 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,719,605. The company has a market cap of $81.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.59 and a beta of 0.49. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $69.80 and a 200-day moving average price of $69.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.56. The Southern Company has a 52 week low of $61.56 and a 52 week high of $75.80.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The utilities provider reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $6.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.90 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 11.40% and a net margin of 15.79%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 14.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.26 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 3.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 17th. This is a positive change from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.87%. Southern’s payout ratio is currently 77.14%.

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.