Principle Wealth Partners LLC Purchases 3,829 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Principle Wealth Partners LLC boosted its position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 3.9% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 102,907 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,829 shares during the period. Principle Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $8,471,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of SO. Financial Enhancement Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter worth about $326,000. OneAscent Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southern in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $576,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake 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 valued at $9,772,000 after buying an additional 5,589 shares during the period. Verity & Verity LLC raised its holdings in shares of Southern by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Verity & Verity LLC now owns 201,971 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $16,626,000 after acquiring an additional 5,434 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its stake in Southern by 94.4% in the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 288,679 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $26,033,000 after acquiring an additional 140,151 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SO has been the subject of several research reports. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on shares of Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. Guggenheim downgraded Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Scotiabank raised their target price on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $89.79.

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 dated Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.90, for a total transaction of $100,503.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 88,393 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,592,958.70. This represents a 1.31 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Southern Stock Up 1.0 %

NYSE:SO opened at $85.47 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $83.37 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $86.71. The firm has a market cap of $93.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.88, a P/E/G ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.53. The Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $65.80 and a fifty-two week high of $94.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.91.

Southern Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors 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 3.37%. Southern’s payout ratio is currently 66.98%.

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.