Maripau Wealth Management LLC Invests $221,000 in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Maripau Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 2,684 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $221,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Bank OZK grew its stake in shares of Southern by 7.2% during the fourth quarter. Bank OZK now owns 32,756 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,696,000 after acquiring an additional 2,192 shares during the last quarter. SVB Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Southern during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,205,000. Tower Bridge Advisors purchased a new stake in Southern during the 4th quarter worth approximately $555,000. Argyle Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Southern by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Argyle Capital Management LLC now owns 26,271 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,163,000 after buying an additional 825 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Financial Security Advisor Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Southern by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Financial Security Advisor Inc. now owns 12,272 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,010,000 after buying an additional 161 shares during the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SO has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Guggenheim lowered shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Scotiabank boosted their price target on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Mizuho upped their target price on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Southern has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $90.54.

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE SO opened at $89.77 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $84.39 and its 200 day moving average price is $86.90. The Southern Company has a 1 year low of $65.99 and a 1 year high of $94.45. The company has a market capitalization of $98.46 billion, a PE ratio of 22.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.67.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.51 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $6.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.90 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.23% and a net margin of 16.47%. On average, research analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current 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 given a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.21%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 71.82%.

Insider Activity

In other Southern news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of the business’s 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.00, for a total value of $1,250,440.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 13,236 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,138,296. This trade represents a 52.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.