Vision Financial Markets LLC Makes New Investment in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Vision Financial Markets LLC purchased a new position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor purchased 1,068 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $88,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of SO. Mizuho Securities USA LLC grew its stake in Southern by 17,272.6% in the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 14,647,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,320,866,000 after buying an additional 14,562,689 shares in the last quarter. Synovus Financial Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 72.4% in the 3rd quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 3,077,959 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $277,570,000 after acquiring an additional 1,293,072 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 24,521,339 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,203,386,000 after acquiring an additional 1,075,768 shares during the last quarter. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH bought a new stake in shares of Southern in the 4th quarter worth approximately $51,605,000. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 12,791.7% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 291,996 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $24,037,000 after acquiring an additional 289,731 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Scotiabank boosted 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. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Guggenheim lowered shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Southern has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $90.54.

Southern Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE SO opened at $88.64 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60. The Southern Company has a 12 month low of $67.53 and a 12 month high of $94.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $97.22 billion, a PE ratio of 22.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.53. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $84.79 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $86.95.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 the consensus estimate of $5.90 billion. Equities analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.25%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 71.82%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,236 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,138,296. This represents a 52.35 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.61, for a total transaction of $100,811.25. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 102,090 shares in the company, valued at $9,148,284.90. This represents a 1.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.