MONECO Advisors LLC Has $733,000 Stock Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

MONECO Advisors LLC boosted its position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 3.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,909 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 309 shares during the quarter. MONECO Advisors LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $733,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. YANKCOM Partnership bought a new stake in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Southern by 168.1% in the third quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC now owns 311 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 195 shares during the last quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp increased its position in Southern by 84.9% during the fourth quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 429 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 197 shares during the period. Finally, Valley National Advisers Inc. raised its stake in Southern by 244.4% during the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 434 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 308 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Southern news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.90, for a total transaction of $100,503.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 88,393 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,592,958.70. This represents a 1.31 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.00, for a total transaction of $1,250,440.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 13,236 shares in the company, valued at $1,138,296. The trade was a 52.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Southern Stock Performance

Southern stock opened at $88.46 on Monday. The Southern Company has a 52-week low of $65.99 and a 52-week high of $94.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.66. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $83.70 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $86.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $96.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.06, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.53.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $6.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.90 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.23% and a net margin of 16.47%. As a group, analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be issued a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.26%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. Southern’s payout ratio is currently 71.82%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on SO shares. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on shares of Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Mizuho lifted their target price on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Guggenheim downgraded Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their price objective on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Southern presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $90.54.

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.