Naviter Wealth LLC Has $2.46 Million Stock Holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Naviter Wealth LLC lifted its stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 21.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 29,820 shares of the utilities provider's stock after acquiring an additional 5,337 shares during the quarter. Naviter Wealth LLC's holdings in Southern were worth $2,455,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of Southern in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Southern by 168.1% in the 3rd quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC now owns 311 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 195 shares during the last quarter. YANKCOM Partnership bought a new position in Southern during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in Southern during the fourth quarter worth approximately $35,000. Finally, WFA Asset Management Corp raised its stake in Southern by 84.9% in the fourth 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 during the period. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently commented on SO shares. Mizuho lifted their target price on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Scotiabank upped their price objective 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. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Guggenheim lowered shares of Southern from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. One research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Southern has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $90.54.

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Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,236 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,138,296. This trade represents a 52.35 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 102,090 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,148,284.90. This represents a 1.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 47,855 shares of company stock worth $4,348,784. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

Southern Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SO traded down $1.38 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $88.72. The company's stock had a trading volume of 4,535,984 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,345,376. The company has a market cap of $97.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.13, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46. 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 debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.67. The business's 50 day moving average price is $85.43 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $87.07.

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

Southern Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were issued a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.25%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. Southern's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 71.82%.

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.