Neville Rodie & Shaw Inc. Invests $218,000 in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Neville Rodie & Shaw Inc. acquired a new stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 2,650 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $218,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. OneAscent Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southern in the third quarter valued at about $576,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Southern by 5.4% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 108,361 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $9,772,000 after acquiring an additional 5,589 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Southern by 94.4% in the 3rd 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. Swiss National Bank increased its stake in Southern by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 3,245,500 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $292,679,000 after purchasing an additional 15,300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, HBW Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in Southern by 219.4% during the third quarter. HBW Advisory Services LLC now owns 8,971 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $809,000 after purchasing an additional 6,162 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In related news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of Southern stock in a transaction on 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. The trade was a 1.31 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Southern Stock Performance

NYSE:SO opened at $80.77 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $88.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.78, a P/E/G ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 0.52. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $86.05 and its two-hundred day moving average is $86.02. 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 quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $7.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.14 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.78% and a net margin of 17.87%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.42 earnings per share. Analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.03 EPS for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 6th. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th were issued a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 18th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.57%. Southern’s payout ratio is 66.98%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Barclays lifted their price target on Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Guggenheim upped their price target on shares of Southern from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on shares of Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their price target on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $90.14.

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.