Biondo Investment Advisors LLC Increases Stock Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Biondo Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 0.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 133,358 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,213 shares during the period. Southern makes up about 1.5% of Biondo Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 24th biggest holding. Biondo Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $10,978,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter valued at $848,019,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Southern during the fourth quarter valued at about $315,290,000. Synovus Financial Corp grew its stake in shares of Southern by 72.4% during the third quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 3,077,959 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $277,570,000 after buying an additional 1,293,072 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Southern by 4.6% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 24,521,339 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,203,386,000 after buying an additional 1,075,768 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Southern by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 102,790,453 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $8,461,710,000 after acquiring an additional 698,422 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Southern Price Performance

SO opened at $91.10 on Friday. The Southern Company has a 12-month low of $67.53 and a 12-month high of $94.45. The company has a market cap of $99.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $87.34 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $87.27.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its quarterly 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). Southern had a net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 12.23%. The business had revenue of $6.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.90 billion. Research analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.16%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. Southern’s payout ratio is 71.82%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, 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 value of $1,250,440.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,236 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,138,296. This represents a 52.35 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of Southern 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 47,855 shares of company stock valued at $4,348,784. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SO has been the subject of several recent research reports. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Morgan Stanley reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Southern in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Guggenheim cut Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $91.46.

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.