Alteri Wealth LLC Invests $242,000 in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Alteri Wealth LLC purchased a new position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 2,934 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $242,000.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new stake in Southern during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. YANKCOM Partnership bought a new stake in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter worth about $35,000. WFA Asset Management Corp increased its position in shares of Southern by 84.9% during the 4th quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 429 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Valley National Advisers Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Southern by 244.4% during the fourth 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 period. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Southern

In other Southern news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of Southern stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 106,819 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,946,985.28. This trade represents a 23.16 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of Southern stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.00, for a total transaction of $1,250,440.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,236 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,138,296. The trade was a 52.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 47,855 shares of company stock valued at $4,348,784 over the last 90 days. 0.16% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SO has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Morgan Stanley reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Southern in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Southern from $95.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on Southern from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $93.07.

Southern Price Performance

SO traded up $0.89 on Wednesday, reaching $92.11. 5,011,328 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,425,701. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $90.24 and its 200-day moving average price is $87.40. 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 market cap of $101.23 billion, a PE ratio of 22.97, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.40. The Southern Company has a twelve month low of $76.64 and a twelve month high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.23 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.03. Southern had a net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 12.23%. The firm had revenue of $7.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $7.17 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.03 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be given a dividend of $0.74 per share. This is an increase from Southern's previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.21%. Southern's payout ratio is currently 70.64%.

About Southern

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.