HighPoint Advisor Group LLC Has $3.23 Million Stock Holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

HighPoint Advisor Group LLC lowered its stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 1.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 37,338 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 539 shares during the period. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $3,228,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of SO. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new position in Southern in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. YANKCOM Partnership acquired a new position in Southern in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. WFA Asset Management Corp raised its stake in shares of Southern by 84.9% during 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. Valley National Advisers Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 244.4% during the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 434 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 308 shares during the period. Finally, Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter worth $35,000. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Southern Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SO opened at $91.99 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $100.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.94, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $87.51 and its 200-day moving average price is $87.27. 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 1-year low of $67.53 and a 1-year high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted 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). The firm had revenue of $6.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.90 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.23% and a net margin of 16.47%. Equities research analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th were given a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.13%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. Southern’s payout ratio is currently 71.82%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SO has been the subject of several analyst reports. UBS Group raised their target price on Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Mizuho raised their price objective on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Guggenheim cut Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Morgan Stanley restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Southern in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Southern has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $91.46.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In other Southern news, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of Southern stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.00, for a total transaction of $1,250,440.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 13,236 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,138,296. The trade was a 52.35 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.12, for a total value of $2,997,532.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 106,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,946,985.28. This trade represents a 23.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 47,855 shares of company stock worth $4,348,784. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Southern 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.