B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. Has $3.58 Million Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO – Get Rating) by 76.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 52,586 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 22,775 shares during the quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $3,577,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky acquired a new stake in Southern during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $6,874,000. FourThought Financial LLC increased its position in Southern by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter. FourThought Financial LLC now owns 26,051 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,771,000 after purchasing an additional 1,143 shares during the period. D L Carlson Investment Group Inc. increased its position in Southern by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. D L Carlson Investment Group Inc. now owns 47,123 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,204,000 after purchasing an additional 384 shares during the period. National Pension Service increased its position in Southern by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 1,675,924 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $116,276,000 after purchasing an additional 70,097 shares during the period. Finally, CENTRAL TRUST Co increased its position in Southern by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 82,033 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,578,000 after purchasing an additional 360 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 61.78% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Southern

In other news, CEO Stephen E. Kuczynski sold 14,546 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.95, for a total transaction of $1,032,038.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 120,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,569,766.70. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, EVP Christopher Cummiskey sold 852 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.31, for a total transaction of $57,348.12. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 22,059 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,484,791.29. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Stephen E. Kuczynski sold 14,546 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.95, for a total value of $1,032,038.70. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 120,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,569,766.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 16,680 shares of company stock valued at $1,174,768. 0.37% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on SO shares. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Southern to $80.00 in a research report on Monday, November 21st. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on Southern from $79.00 to $78.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 2nd. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Southern from $68.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, December 16th. Credit Suisse Group increased their price target on Southern from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Southern from $73.00 to $71.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 17th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Southern presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $71.93.

Southern Trading Up 0.7 %

NYSE SO opened at $68.12 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $74.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.77, a PEG ratio of 4.50 and a beta of 0.49. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $66.94 and a 200 day simple moving average of $68.73. The Southern Company has a 12 month low of $58.85 and a 12 month high of $80.57. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47.

Southern (NYSE:SO – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 16th. The utilities provider reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.24 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $7.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.83 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 11.73% and a net margin of 12.40%. Southern’s quarterly revenue was up 22.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.36 EPS. On average, analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 3.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 21st were given a $0.68 dividend. This represents a $2.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.99%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 17th. Southern’s payout ratio is currently 82.93%.

Southern Company Profile

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The Southern Co is a holding company, which engages in the generation and sale of electricity. It operates through the following segments: Traditional Electric Operating Companies, Southern Power and Southern Company Gas. The Traditional Electric Operating Companies segment refers to vertically integrated utilities that own generation, transmission and distribution facilities, and supplies electric services in the states of Alabama, Georgia, Florida, and Mississippi.