Leigh Baldwin & CO. LLC Acquires Shares of 3,169 The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Leigh Baldwin & CO. LLC purchased a new position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 3,169 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $261,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Town & Country Bank & Trust CO dba First Bankers Trust CO bought a new position in Southern in the 4th quarter valued at $384,000. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Southern by 11.6% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 56,716 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $5,115,000 after purchasing an additional 5,904 shares during the period. Crews Bank & Trust purchased a new position in Southern in the 4th quarter worth about $364,000. YHB Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Southern by 172.4% during the 4th quarter. YHB Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 7,440 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $612,000 after buying an additional 4,709 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Level Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Southern in the 4th quarter valued at about $343,000. 64.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. 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 research note on Friday, May 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Southern from an "underweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $94.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Guggenheim reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $93.00 price target on shares of Southern in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Barclays lifted their price objective on Southern from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $92.21.

Southern Stock Up 1.3%

Shares of NYSE SO traded up $1.19 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $89.94. 10,681,831 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,525,353. The Southern Company has a 12 month low of $76.87 and a 12 month high of $94.45. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $89.85 and a 200-day moving average price of $87.23. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60. The company has a market cap of $98.85 billion, a PE ratio of 22.43, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.40.

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

Southern Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.74 per share. This is a positive change from Southern's previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.29%. Southern's payout ratio is presently 70.64%.

Insider Activity at Southern

In related news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 102,090 shares in the company, valued at $9,148,284.90. This represents a 1.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.12, for a total transaction of $2,997,532.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 106,819 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,946,985.28. This represents a 23.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.