Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT Grows Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT raised its stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 8.2% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 10,053 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 763 shares during the period. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT’s holdings in Southern were worth $828,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Cordatus Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Southern by 4.4% in the 4th quarter. Cordatus Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,152 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $506,000 after purchasing an additional 262 shares during the last quarter. Waterfront Wealth Inc. grew its stake in shares of Southern by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Waterfront Wealth Inc. now owns 12,617 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,039,000 after purchasing an additional 210 shares during the last quarter. Trinity Legacy Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Southern by 6.5% in the 4th quarter. Trinity Legacy Partners LLC now owns 58,601 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,824,000 after purchasing an additional 3,590 shares during the last quarter. Financial Harvest LLC purchased a new position in shares of Southern in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $275,000. Finally, Capital Investment Counsel Inc boosted its stake in shares of Southern by 12.0% in the fourth quarter. Capital Investment Counsel Inc now owns 5,038 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $415,000 after buying an additional 541 shares in the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Southern

In related news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.90, for a total transaction of $100,503.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 88,393 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,592,958.70. This represents a 1.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 13,236 shares in the company, valued at $1,138,296. This trade represents a 52.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Guggenheim downgraded Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Mizuho lifted their price target on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their price target on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $90.54.

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of SO stock opened at $88.46 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $83.70 and a 200 day moving average price of $86.82. The stock has a market cap of $96.92 billion, a PE ratio of 22.06, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.53. The Southern Company has a 1 year low of $65.99 and a 1 year high of $94.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.67.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by ($0.01). Southern had a return on equity of 12.23% and a net margin of 16.47%. The company had revenue of $6.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.90 billion. Sell-side analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be issued a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.26%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.