Waverly Advisors LLC Has $18.06 Million Stock Holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Waverly Advisors LLC boosted its stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 31.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 219,362 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 52,493 shares during the quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC's holdings in Southern were worth $18,058,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Southern by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 102,790,453 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $8,461,710,000 after buying an additional 698,422 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Southern by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 25,050,209 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $2,056,441,000 after buying an additional 528,870 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of Southern by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 10,805,269 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $889,490,000 after buying an additional 460,594 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter valued at $848,019,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Southern by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,599,710 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $543,288,000 after buying an additional 194,114 shares in the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the company's 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 in the company, valued at $9,946,985.28. This represents a 23.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.61, for a total value of $100,811.25. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 102,090 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,148,284.90. The trade was a 1.09% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.16% of the company's stock.

Southern Trading Up 0.9%

Shares of Southern stock opened at $89.49 on Tuesday. The Southern Company has a 52-week low of $76.64 and a 52-week high of $94.45. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $89.91 and its 200 day simple moving average is $87.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $98.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.32, a P/E/G 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.23 earnings per share (EPS) 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 business had revenue of $7.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $7.17 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.03 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 a boost from Southern's previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.31%. Southern's dividend payout ratio is currently 70.64%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

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.

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