WealthPlan Investment Management LLC Purchases New Holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

WealthPlan Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO – Get Rating) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 3,253 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $223,000.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Prudential PLC lifted its position in shares of Southern by 23.4% in the first quarter. Prudential PLC now owns 19,438 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,409,000 after buying an additional 3,689 shares during the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust lifted its position in shares of Southern by 33.5% in the first quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 1,727 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $126,000 after buying an additional 433 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd lifted its position in shares of Southern by 63.0% in the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,902 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $138,000 after buying an additional 735 shares during the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Southern by 0.4% in the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 49,925 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,621,000 after buying an additional 221 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its position in shares of Southern by 35.8% in the first quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 907,132 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $65,776,000 after buying an additional 239,325 shares during the last quarter. 61.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on SO. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Southern from $64.00 to $61.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 22nd. BMO Capital Markets lifted 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 lifted 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. UBS Group dropped their price target on Southern to $80.00 in a report on Monday, November 21st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on Southern from $79.00 to $78.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 2nd. Six investment 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, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $71.93.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Stephen E. Kuczynski sold 14,546 shares of Southern stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.95, for a total value of $1,032,038.70. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 120,786 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,569,766.70. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, EVP Christopher Cummiskey sold 1,282 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.60, for a total transaction of $85,381.20. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 27,512 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,832,299.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Stephen E. Kuczynski sold 14,546 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 10th. The stock was 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 owns 120,786 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,569,766.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 16,680 shares of company stock worth $1,174,768. Insiders own 0.37% of the company’s stock.

Southern Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of SO opened at $67.90 on Friday. The Southern Company has a 52-week low of $58.85 and a 52-week high of $80.57. The business’s fifty day moving average is $66.86 and its 200-day moving average is $68.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a current ratio of 0.66. The firm has a market cap of $73.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.70, a PEG ratio of 4.57 and a beta of 0.49.

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

Southern Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 21st were paid a $0.68 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 17th. This represents a $2.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.01%. Southern’s payout ratio is 82.93%.

About Southern

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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.