William B. Walkup & Associates Inc. Takes Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

William B. Walkup & Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 2,358 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $183,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $16,067,000. Intech Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Southern by 382.0% during the first quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 41,790 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,998,000 after buying an additional 33,120 shares during the last quarter. Nwam LLC raised its position in shares of Southern by 8.8% during the first quarter. Nwam LLC now owns 11,605 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $890,000 after buying an additional 937 shares during the last quarter. Angeles Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Southern by 13.3% during the fourth quarter. Angeles Investment Advisors LLC now owns 5,202 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $365,000 after buying an additional 612 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State of Tennessee Treasury Department raised its position in shares of Southern by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. State of Tennessee Treasury Department now owns 514,766 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $36,095,000 after buying an additional 12,849 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on SO shares. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Southern in a research report on Friday, September 20th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $94.00 price target on the stock. Mizuho cut shares of Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $90.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Monday, September 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Southern from $80.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Southern from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Wolfe Research cut shares of Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $86.60.

Southern Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of SO opened at $90.10 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $98.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.28, a P/E/G ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 0.52. The Southern Company has a 12-month low of $61.56 and a 12-month high of $90.85. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $87.06 and a 200-day moving average price of $79.66.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $6.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.10 billion. Southern had a net margin of 17.67% and a return on equity of 12.88%. The business’s revenue was up 12.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.79 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 19th were given a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 19th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 74.42%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Sloane N. Drake sold 12,000 shares of Southern stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.61, for a total value of $931,320.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,771 shares in the company, valued at $1,301,597.31. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Southern news, EVP Sterling A. Jr. Spainhour sold 2,380 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.99, for a total transaction of $211,796.20. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 12,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,112,375. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Sloane N. Drake sold 12,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.61, for a total value of $931,320.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,771 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,301,597.31. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 27,845 shares of company stock worth $2,266,455. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.