Members Wealth LLC Acquires Shares of 4,454 The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Members Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 4,454 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $387,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of SO. YANKCOM Partnership acquired a new position in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter valued at about $35,000. WFA Asset Management Corp raised its position in shares of Southern by 84.9% during the fourth quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 429 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 197 shares during the last quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. raised its position 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 buying an additional 308 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp acquired a new position in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter valued at about $37,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently weighed in on SO shares. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Mizuho increased their price target on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Southern from an "underweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $94.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $93.00 price objective on shares of Southern in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Southern from $95.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Southern presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $92.21.

Southern Stock Up 1.3%

SO stock traded up $1.19 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $89.94. The company's stock had a trading volume of 10,681,858 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,515,872. 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 Southern Company has a twelve month low of $76.96 and a twelve month high of $94.45. The company's fifty day moving average price is $89.89 and its 200 day moving average price is $87.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $98.85 billion, a P/E 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, beating the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.17 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.03 EPS. The company's revenue was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The company 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 $0.74 dividend. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.29%. This is an increase from Southern's previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. Southern's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 70.64%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of Southern stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.61, for a total transaction of $100,811.25. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 102,090 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,148,284.90. The trade was a 1.09% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of Southern stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 106,819 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,946,985.28. The trade was a 23.16% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.16% of the company's stock.

Southern 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.