World Investment Advisors Boosts Stock Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

World Investment Advisors grew its position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 93.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 21,430 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 10,348 shares during the quarter. World Investment Advisors' holdings in Southern were worth $1,764,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of SO. Syverson Strege & Co raised its holdings in shares of Southern by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Syverson Strege & Co now owns 4,264 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $351,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares during the period. Abel Hall LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 1.8% in the third quarter. Abel Hall LLC now owns 6,830 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $616,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Providence Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Southern by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Providence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 41,073 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $3,381,000 after buying an additional 120 shares during the period. Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC raised its position in Southern by 15.9% in the 4th quarter. Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC now owns 895 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $74,000 after buying an additional 123 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Elevate Wealth Advisory Inc. lifted its stake in Southern by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Elevate Wealth Advisory Inc. now owns 6,200 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $510,000 after acquiring an additional 123 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company's stock.

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Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In related news, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,236 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,138,296. The trade was a 52.35 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 106,819 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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. Insiders sold 47,855 shares of company stock worth $4,348,784 in the last quarter. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SO has been the subject of several recent research reports. Guggenheim cut shares of Southern from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Morgan Stanley restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Southern in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Mizuho lifted their target price on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Southern from an "underweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $94.00 price target for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Scotiabank boosted 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. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $92.00.

Southern Stock Up 0.2 %

SO stock traded up $0.15 during trading on Thursday, reaching $87.95. 2,106,710 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,553,946. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60. The Southern Company has a twelve month low of $67.53 and a twelve month high of $94.45. The firm's 50 day moving average is $88.44 and its 200 day moving average is $87.27. The firm has a market cap of $96.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.39.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 EPS 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 business had revenue of $6.34 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.90 billion. As a group, research analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th were issued a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.27%. Southern's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.