Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. Grows Holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. raised its position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 5.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 66,948 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 3,456 shares during the period. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc.'s holdings in Southern were worth $5,511,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. YANKCOM Partnership bought a new position in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter worth $26,000. WFA Asset Management Corp boosted its stake in Southern by 84.9% in the 4th quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 429 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares during the period. Valley National Advisers Inc. boosted its stake in Southern by 244.4% in the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 434 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 308 shares during the period. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new position in Southern in the 4th quarter worth about $35,000. Finally, Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp bought a new position in Southern in the 4th quarter valued at $37,000. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Mizuho lifted their price objective on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Southern from $95.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Morgan Stanley reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Southern in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, KeyCorp downgraded shares of Southern from a "sector weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and set a $78.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $92.21.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In other Southern news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The shares were 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. The trade was a 23.16% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the business's 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 transaction, 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company's stock.

Southern Trading Up 1.3%

Southern stock traded up $1.19 during mid-day 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 stock has a market cap of $98.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.40. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $89.89 and a 200-day moving average price of $87.24. The Southern Company has a 12 month low of $76.96 and a 12 month high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.03. Southern had a return on equity of 12.23% and a net margin of 16.47%. The company had revenue of $7.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.17 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.03 EPS. Southern's revenue for the quarter was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast 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. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be given a $0.74 dividend. This is a boost 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%.

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.