Valley National Advisers Inc. Has $35,000 Stock Holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Valley National Advisers Inc. boosted its holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 244.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 434 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 308 shares during the quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $35,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in SO. Level Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Southern in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $343,000. Western Pacific Wealth Management LP increased its stake in Southern by 32.1% in the fourth quarter. Western Pacific Wealth Management LP now owns 888 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $73,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp increased its stake in Southern by 84.9% in the fourth quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 429 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 197 shares during the last quarter. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Southern by 17.1% in the fourth quarter. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 32,360 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,664,000 after acquiring an additional 4,723 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nadler Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Southern by 45.8% in the fourth quarter. Nadler Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,775 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $393,000 after acquiring an additional 1,500 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In other news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of the business’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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 88,393 shares in the company, valued at $7,592,958.70. The trade was a 1.31 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Southern Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of SO stock opened at $84.03 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $92.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.54, a PEG ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.53. The Southern Company has a one year low of $65.80 and a one year high of $94.45. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $83.92 and its 200-day moving average price is $86.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.66.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders 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 yield of 3.43%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is currently 66.98%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SO has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays increased their target price on Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Scotiabank increased their target price on shares of Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Guggenheim downgraded shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $89.79.

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.