Waterfront Wealth Inc. Acquires 210 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Waterfront Wealth Inc. grew its holdings in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 1.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 12,617 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 210 shares during the period. Waterfront Wealth Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $1,039,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new position in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. YANKCOM Partnership acquired a new position in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Southern by 168.1% during the third 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 period. WFA Asset Management Corp raised its position in shares of Southern by 84.9% during the fourth 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. raised its position in shares of Southern by 244.4% during the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 434 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 308 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Southern news, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.00, for a total value of $1,250,440.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 13,236 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,138,296. This trade represents a 52.35 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 88,393 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,592,958.70. The trade was a 1.31 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Mizuho upped their target price on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Scotiabank increased their price target on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Guggenheim lowered Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $89.79.

Southern Stock Up 1.5 %

SO stock opened at $87.78 on Friday. 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 company has a market capitalization of $96.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.41, a PEG ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 0.53. The Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $65.99 and a fifty-two week high of $94.45. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $83.50 and a 200-day moving average of $86.80.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted 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 return on equity of 12.78% and a net margin of 17.87%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be paid a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.28%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is currently 66.98%.

Southern 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.