Concord Wealth Partners Buys 2,611 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Concord Wealth Partners boosted its holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 12.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 23,308 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,611 shares during the quarter. Concord Wealth Partners’ holdings in Southern were worth $1,634,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in SO. Insigneo Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in shares of Southern by 3.1% during the third quarter. Insigneo Advisory Services LLC now owns 4,883 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $316,000 after purchasing an additional 146 shares in the last quarter. Good Life Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Southern by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Good Life Advisors LLC now owns 19,956 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,399,000 after buying an additional 149 shares during the period. Insight Inv LLC lifted its holdings in Southern by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Insight Inv LLC now owns 10,530 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $738,000 after buying an additional 150 shares during the period. Patten & Patten Inc. TN lifted its holdings in Southern by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Patten & Patten Inc. TN now owns 20,736 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,454,000 after buying an additional 150 shares during the period. Finally, CNB Bank lifted its holdings in Southern by 23.9% in the fourth quarter. CNB Bank now owns 778 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $55,000 after buying an additional 150 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Southern

In other news, CEO Stephen E. Kuczynski sold 5,000 shares of Southern stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.92, for a total value of $344,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 126,528 shares in the company, valued at $8,720,309.76. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Southern news, CEO Stephen E. Kuczynski sold 5,000 shares of Southern stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.92, for a total transaction of $344,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 126,528 shares in the company, valued at $8,720,309.76. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 22,502 shares in the company, valued at $1,508,984.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 10,899 shares of company stock worth $739,587 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on SO. Scotiabank decreased their target price on shares of Southern from $80.00 to $77.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Southern from $75.00 to $72.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 16th. UBS Group cut shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the company from $78.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $80.00 price target on shares of Southern in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Finally, Bank of America increased their price target 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. 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $74.36.

Southern Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of Southern stock traded up $1.21 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $74.71. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,866,315 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,702,833. The Southern Company has a one year low of $61.56 and a one year high of $75.80. The company has a market capitalization of $81.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.25, a P/E/G ratio of 4.66 and a beta of 0.49. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $69.93 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $69.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a current ratio of 0.77.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced its 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 company had revenue of $6.05 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.90 billion. Southern had a net margin of 15.79% and a return on equity of 11.40%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 14.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.26 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 3.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 20th will be paid a $0.72 dividend. This is an increase from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 17th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.85%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.