Signature Wealth Management Group Sells 4,249 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Signature Wealth Management Group cut its position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 3.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 120,074 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 4,249 shares during the quarter. Southern makes up about 4.0% of Signature Wealth Management Group's holdings, making the stock its biggest position. Signature Wealth Management Group's holdings in Southern were worth $9,884,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of SO. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. YANKCOM Partnership bought a new stake in Southern in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC grew its position in Southern by 168.1% in the 3rd quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC now owns 311 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 195 shares during the last quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp increased its holdings 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 worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares during the period. Finally, Valley National Advisers Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Southern by 244.4% in the fourth 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 during the period. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company's stock.

Southern Price Performance

Southern stock traded up $0.41 on Thursday, reaching $90.01. The company's stock had a trading volume of 4,652,700 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,288,581. The Southern Company has a twelve month low of $67.53 and a twelve month high of $94.45. The company has a market cap of $98.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.45, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46. 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 fifty day moving average price is $86.39 and its 200 day moving average price is $87.22.

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Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.51 by ($0.01). The company 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%. Equities 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th were given a $0.72 dividend. 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 presently 71.82%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Southern news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 approximately $9,148,284.90. The trade was a 1.09 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.00, for a total transaction of $1,250,440.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,236 shares in the company, valued at $1,138,296. This trade represents a 52.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, 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.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on SO. Mizuho boosted their price target on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Scotiabank upped their target price on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Guggenheim cut shares of Southern from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Southern from $88.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Southern has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $91.00.

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.