Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. Increases Stock Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. increased its stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 4.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 143,761 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 6,021 shares during the period. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc.'s holdings in Southern were worth $11,834,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in Southern during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Southern by 168.1% during the third quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC now owns 311 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 195 shares in the last quarter. YANKCOM Partnership purchased a new stake in Southern during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in Southern during the fourth quarter worth about $35,000. Finally, WFA Asset Management Corp boosted its holdings in Southern by 84.9% during the fourth quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 429 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 197 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 of the company's stock, valued at $1,138,296. This represents a 52.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.61, for a total transaction of $100,811.25. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 102,090 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,148,284.90. The trade was a 1.09 % decrease in their position. 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. Insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

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Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Southern from $88.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday. Mizuho upped 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. Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Guggenheim downgraded shares of 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, nine have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Southern has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $91.00.

Southern Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE:SO traded up $0.41 during trading on Thursday, reaching $90.01. The stock had a trading volume of 4,652,628 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,288,580. The Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $67.53 and a fifty-two week high of $94.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $86.39 and a 200-day moving average price of $87.22. The stock has a market cap of $98.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.45, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46.

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 the consensus estimate of $0.51 by ($0.01). Southern had a return on equity of 12.23% and a net margin of 16.47%. The company had revenue of $6.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.90 billion. As a group, analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th were given a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. Southern's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.