Visionary Horizons LLC Has $816,000 Stock Holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Visionary Horizons LLC lessened its holdings in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 3.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,909 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 324 shares during the quarter. Southern makes up approximately 0.5% of Visionary Horizons LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 28th largest position. Visionary Horizons LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $816,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Mizuho Securities USA LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Southern by 17,272.6% during the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 14,647,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,320,866,000 after acquiring an additional 14,562,689 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Southern by 8,741.6% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,502,813 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $135,524,000 after purchasing an additional 1,485,816 shares during the period. Synovus Financial Corp grew its holdings in 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 in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Southern by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 24,521,339 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,203,386,000 after buying an additional 1,075,768 shares during the period. Finally, Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH bought a new stake in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter valued at about $51,605,000. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Southern

In other news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.90, for a total value of $100,503.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 88,393 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,592,958.70. This trade represents a 1.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Southern Stock Up 0.9 %

SO opened at $84.53 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $83.37 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $86.65. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66. The Southern Company has a twelve month low of $65.80 and a twelve month high of $94.45. The stock has a market cap of $92.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.66, a PEG ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.53.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.41%. Southern’s payout ratio is 66.98%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on SO. Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on shares of Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. Barclays increased their price target on Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $89.79.

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.