Sunburst Financial Group LLC Has $842,000 Stock Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Sunburst Financial Group LLC lowered its position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 2.2% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 10,234 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 232 shares during the quarter. Sunburst Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $842,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Creative Planning lifted its stake in shares of Southern by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 368,646 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $33,245,000 after purchasing an additional 12,011 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. raised its holdings in Southern by 2.5% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. now owns 18,557 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,673,000 after buying an additional 453 shares in the last quarter. Firethorn Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Southern by 17.0% in the third quarter. Firethorn Wealth Partners LLC now owns 12,353 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,114,000 after buying an additional 1,795 shares during the last quarter. Kaydan Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Southern during the 3rd quarter worth about $285,000. Finally, Kowal Investment Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Southern by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Kowal Investment Group LLC now owns 9,496 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $856,000 after acquiring an additional 340 shares during the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Southern Stock Performance

SO opened at $86.79 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $95.10 billion, a PE ratio of 20.18, a P/E/G ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.53. The Southern Company has a 1 year low of $65.80 and a 1 year high of $94.45. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $83.35 and its 200-day simple moving average is $86.77. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66.

Southern Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. Southern’s payout ratio is 66.98%.

Insider Activity

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 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of Southern stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were 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 directly owns 13,236 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,138,296. The trade was a 52.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price 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 upped their price objective 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. BMO Capital Markets dropped 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. Guggenheim lowered shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Mizuho raised their price target on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average 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.