RFG Bristol Wealth Advisors LLC Acquires New Stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

RFG Bristol Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 5,756 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $474,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Southern by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 102,790,453 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $8,461,710,000 after purchasing an additional 698,422 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Southern by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 25,050,209 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $2,056,441,000 after buying an additional 528,870 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter worth about $848,019,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Southern by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,599,710 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $543,288,000 after buying an additional 194,114 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Southern in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $315,290,000. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Southern

In other news, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.00, for a total transaction of $1,250,440.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,236 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,138,296. This trade represents a 52.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of Southern stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.12, for a total value of $2,997,532.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 106,819 shares in the company, valued at $9,946,985.28. This trade represents a 23.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 47,855 shares of company stock valued at $4,348,784. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

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Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SO has been the topic of several analyst reports. Mizuho boosted 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. Scotiabank increased their price target on 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 boosted their price target on Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Morgan Stanley reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Southern in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Guggenheim downgraded shares of Southern from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $91.46.

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE SO traded up $1.14 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $92.44. 6,392,546 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,521,041. The firm has a market capitalization of $101.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $88.03 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $87.35. 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 52 week low of $67.53 and a 52 week high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 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 analysts' expectations of $5.90 billion. Southern had a net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 12.23%. Analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th were given a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.12%. Southern's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 71.82%.

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.