Balboa Wealth Partners Boosts Stock Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Balboa Wealth Partners boosted its holdings in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 5.7% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 11,915 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 646 shares during the quarter. Balboa Wealth Partners’ holdings in Southern were worth $981,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Financial Enhancement Group LLC purchased a new stake in Southern during the 4th quarter worth approximately $326,000. OneAscent Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in Southern during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $576,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 5,589 shares during the last quarter. Verity & Verity LLC grew its position in shares of Southern by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Verity & Verity LLC now owns 201,971 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $16,626,000 after acquiring an additional 5,434 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. grew its position 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 in the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently commented on SO shares. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Scotiabank lifted their target price on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Guggenheim lowered Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $90.54.

Southern Stock Down 1.5 %

Shares of Southern stock opened at $88.72 on Thursday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $85.56 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $87.08. 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 company has a market capitalization of $97.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.13, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46. The Southern Company has a 1-year low of $67.53 and a 1-year high of $94.45.

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

Southern Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were paid a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is presently 71.82%.

Insider Transactions at Southern

In other news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.12, for a total value of $2,997,532.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 106,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,946,985.28. The trade was a 23.16 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.61, for a total value of $100,811.25. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 102,090 shares in the company, valued at $9,148,284.90. This represents a 1.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 47,855 shares of company stock valued at $4,348,784. Corporate 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.