Hartford Financial Management Inc. Has $2.65 Million Stock Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Hartford Financial Management Inc. cut its holdings in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 0.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 32,200 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 189 shares during the period. Hartford Financial Management Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $2,651,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of SO. Cibc World Market Inc. increased its holdings in Southern by 165.3% in the fourth quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 152,739 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $12,573,000 after purchasing an additional 95,175 shares during the last quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. grew its position in shares of Southern by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 10,463 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $861,000 after buying an additional 294 shares during the period. Crews Bank & Trust acquired a new stake in shares of Southern in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $364,000. OLD National Bancorp IN boosted its stake in Southern by 6.2% during the 4th quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN now owns 15,239 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,254,000 after acquiring an additional 893 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DMC Group LLC grew its holdings in Southern by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. DMC Group LLC now owns 14,374 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,183,000 after purchasing an additional 139 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on SO shares. Guggenheim cut shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Barclays increased their target price on Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Scotiabank increased their price objective on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Southern currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $90.14.

Insider Activity at Southern

In related news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.90, for a total transaction of $100,503.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 88,393 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,592,958.70. This represents a 1.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Southern Stock Up 2.6 %

Shares of SO opened at $84.95 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $84.05 and its 200 day simple moving average is $86.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.91. The firm has a market cap of $93.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.52. The Southern Company has a 52 week low of $65.80 and a 52 week high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.10. Southern had a return on equity of 12.78% and a net margin of 17.87%. The company had revenue of $7.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.14 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.42 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be given a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.39%. Southern’s payout ratio is presently 66.98%.

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.