Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC Purchases 3,580 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 4.8% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 77,493 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,580 shares during the quarter. Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $6,502,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new stake in Southern during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Southern by 168.1% during the third quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC now owns 311 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 195 shares in the last quarter. West Branch Capital LLC raised its holdings in Southern by 34.7% in the third quarter. West Branch Capital LLC now owns 501 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $45,000 after buying an additional 129 shares during the last quarter. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new position in Southern in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Finally, Quarry LP purchased a new stake in shares of Southern during the third quarter valued at $49,000. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Southern

In other Southern news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was 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. This represents a 1.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SO has been the topic of a number of research reports. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Guggenheim downgraded shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $90.14.

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of SO stock opened at $83.67 on Wednesday. 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 company has a market cap of $91.68 billion, a PE ratio of 19.46, a PEG ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.52. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $84.15 and its 200-day simple moving average is $86.57. The Southern Company has a 12-month low of $65.80 and a 12-month high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.10. Southern had a return on equity of 12.78% and a net margin of 17.87%. The firm had revenue of $7.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.14 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.42 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be given a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.44%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is currently 66.98%.

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.