Ninepoint Partners LP Has $1.21 Million Stock Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Ninepoint Partners LP grew its position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 24.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,710 shares of the utilities provider's stock after acquiring an additional 2,920 shares during the quarter. Ninepoint Partners LP's holdings in Southern were worth $1,211,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Financial Enhancement Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Southern in the 4th quarter worth about $326,000. OneAscent Financial Services LLC bought a new position in Southern in the third quarter worth about $576,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Southern by 5.4% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 108,361 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $9,772,000 after acquiring an additional 5,589 shares during the period. Verity & Verity LLC grew its holdings in shares of Southern by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Verity & Verity LLC now owns 201,971 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $16,626,000 after purchasing an additional 5,434 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 94.4% in the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 288,679 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $26,033,000 after purchasing an additional 140,151 shares during the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Southern

In other Southern 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 completion of 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the company's 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 106,819 shares in the company, valued at $9,946,985.28. This represents a 23.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 47,855 shares of company stock worth $4,348,784 in the last quarter. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently commented on SO shares. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Southern from $88.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday. Guggenheim cut shares of Southern from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Scotiabank boosted their target price 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. Finally, Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Southern has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $91.00.

Southern Price Performance

Shares of Southern stock traded up $0.41 during trading on Thursday, hitting $90.01. The stock had a trading volume of 4,652,699 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,288,580. The business has a fifty day moving average of $86.39 and a two-hundred day moving average of $87.22. The firm 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. 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 current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.66.

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

Southern Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 3.20%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. 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.