HUB Investment Partners LLC Increases Stock Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

HUB Investment Partners LLC boosted its stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 61.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 10,973 shares of the utilities provider's stock after acquiring an additional 4,192 shares during the period. HUB Investment Partners LLC's holdings in Southern were worth $903,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new stake in Southern in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. YANKCOM Partnership purchased a new position in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. WFA Asset Management Corp lifted its stake in shares of Southern by 84.9% during the 4th quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 429 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 197 shares in the last quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Southern by 244.4% during the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 434 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 308 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new position in Southern in the 4th quarter worth approximately $35,000. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Southern Price Performance

NYSE:SO traded down $1.15 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $87.73. The company had a trading volume of 3,912,815 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,309,209. The company has a market capitalization of $96.22 billion, a PE ratio of 21.88, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46. 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 Southern Company has a 52-week low of $67.53 and a 52-week high of $94.45. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $86.83 and its 200-day moving average price is $87.23.

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Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.51 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $6.34 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.90 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.23% and a net margin of 16.47%. As a group, research analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were given a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. Southern's payout ratio is currently 71.82%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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 the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.12, for a total value of $2,997,532.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 106,819 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,946,985.28. This represents a 23.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 47,855 shares of company stock valued at $4,348,784. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SO has been the topic of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Southern from $88.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Mizuho increased their price objective on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Guggenheim lowered Southern from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Southern currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $91.46.

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.