Wayfinding Financial LLC Takes Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Wayfinding Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 3,903 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $321,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Southern by 4.6% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 24,521,339 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $2,203,386,000 after acquiring an additional 1,075,768 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Southern by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,599,710 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $543,288,000 after buying an additional 194,114 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Southern in the 4th quarter valued at $315,290,000. Synovus Financial Corp increased its stake in shares of Southern by 72.4% in the 3rd quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 3,077,959 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $277,570,000 after buying an additional 1,293,072 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi raised its position in shares of Southern by 11.4% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 2,780,137 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $230,807,000 after acquiring an additional 284,022 shares during the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SO has been the subject of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Southern from $88.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Guggenheim downgraded shares of Southern from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Mizuho raised their price objective 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. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price target on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Southern presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $91.46.

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Insider Transactions at Southern

In related news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.61, for a total transaction of $100,811.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 102,090 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,148,284.90. This represents a 1.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of Southern stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 13,236 shares in the company, valued at $1,138,296. The trade was a 52.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 47,855 shares of company stock valued at $4,348,784 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

Southern Stock Down 1.3 %

Shares of SO traded down $1.15 on Tuesday, hitting $87.73. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,912,815 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,318,221. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $86.94 and its 200-day moving average price is $87.23. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $96.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.88, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 company had revenue of $6.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.90 billion. On average, equities research analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

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 $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.28%. 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.