Members Wealth LLC Purchases New Position in 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 Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 4,454 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $387,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. YANKCOM Partnership acquired a new position in Southern in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. WFA Asset Management Corp lifted its holdings 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 worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 197 shares during the period. Valley National Advisers Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 244.4% during the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 434 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 308 shares during the period. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in Southern during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Finally, Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp bought a new stake in Southern during the fourth quarter worth $37,000. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In related news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the company'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 approximately $9,946,985.28. This represents a 23.16% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were 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 of the company's stock, valued at $9,148,284.90. This trade represents a 1.09% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.16% of the company's stock.

Southern Trading Up 1.3%

Shares of SO traded up $1.19 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $89.94. 10,681,858 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,526,504. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $89.85 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $87.23. The Southern Company has a 52 week low of $76.96 and a 52 week high of $94.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $98.85 billion, a PE ratio of 22.43, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.67.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.23 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $7.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.17 billion. Southern had a net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 12.23%. The company'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 EPS. On average, analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.74 per share. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.29%. This is a boost from Southern's previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. Southern's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 70.64%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on SO. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Southern from an "underweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $94.00 price target for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. 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. KeyCorp lowered shares of Southern from a "sector weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and set a $78.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Barclays increased their price objective 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. Finally, Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $92.21.

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.