Abound Wealth Management Increases Holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Abound Wealth Management increased its stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 13.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 7,198 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 881 shares during the quarter. Abound Wealth Management’s holdings in Southern were worth $593,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. OneAscent Financial Services LLC bought a new position in Southern in the third quarter worth approximately $576,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Southern by 5.4% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 108,361 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $9,772,000 after purchasing an additional 5,589 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 94.4% during the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 288,679 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $26,033,000 after purchasing an additional 140,151 shares during the last quarter. Swiss National Bank grew its stake in Southern by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 3,245,500 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $292,679,000 after buying an additional 15,300 shares during the last quarter. Finally, HBW Advisory Services LLC increased its position in Southern by 219.4% during the 3rd quarter. HBW Advisory Services LLC now owns 8,971 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $809,000 after buying an additional 6,162 shares in the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Southern Stock Performance

NYSE SO traded up $0.39 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $81.71. 2,246,030 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,594,222. The company has a market capitalization of $89.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.00, a P/E/G ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 0.52. 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 business’s 50 day moving average is $85.22 and its 200-day moving average is $86.13. The Southern Company has a 1 year low of $65.80 and a 1 year high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $7.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.14 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.78% and a net margin of 17.87%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.42 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th were given a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.52%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 18th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is presently 66.98%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on SO. Scotiabank boosted their price target on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Mizuho lowered shares of Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $90.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Southern in a research note on Friday, September 20th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $94.00 target price for the company. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $90.14.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In other Southern news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was 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 $7,592,958.70. This represents a 1.31 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.