Capital Investment Advisors LLC Grows Holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Capital Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 1.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 576,435 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 8,148 shares during the quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC owned 0.05% of Southern worth $47,452,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vista Capital Partners Inc. raised its stake in shares of Southern by 1.4% during the second quarter. Vista Capital Partners Inc. now owns 8,743 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $678,000 after acquiring an additional 118 shares during the last quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Southern by 3.8% during the third quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. now owns 3,246 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $293,000 after acquiring an additional 119 shares during the last quarter. Abel Hall LLC raised its stake in shares of Southern by 1.8% during the third quarter. Abel Hall LLC now owns 6,830 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $616,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Southern by 5.8% during the third quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC now owns 2,201 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $198,000 after acquiring an additional 121 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Birchcreek Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Southern by 4.5% during the third quarter. Birchcreek Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,836 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $256,000 after acquiring an additional 121 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Southern

In other news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.90, for a total value of $100,503.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 88,393 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,592,958.70. The trade was a 1.31 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Southern Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of SO traded up $0.49 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $81.81. 3,555,002 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,788,600. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $85.22 and a 200 day simple moving average of $86.13. The Southern Company has a 52 week low of $65.80 and a 52 week high of $94.45. The company has a market cap of $89.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.03, a PEG ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 0.52.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $7.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.14 billion. Southern had a net margin of 17.87% and a return on equity of 12.78%. The firm's revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.42 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.03 EPS for the current year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 6th. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th were paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 18th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.52%. Southern's dividend payout ratio is currently 66.98%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on SO shares. Mizuho downgraded shares of Southern from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $90.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on shares of Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price target 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $90.14.

Southern Company 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.