Lido Advisors LLC Has $6.43 Million Holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Lido Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 6.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 78,139 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 5,030 shares during the period. Lido Advisors LLC's holdings in Southern were worth $6,432,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. YANKCOM Partnership purchased a new position in Southern during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. WFA Asset Management Corp increased its holdings in shares of Southern by 84.9% in the 4th quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 429 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares during the period. Valley National Advisers Inc. lifted its position in shares of Southern by 244.4% in the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 434 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 308 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter worth approximately $35,000. 64.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on SO shares. Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Southern from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research report on Friday. Guggenheim reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $93.00 price objective on shares of Southern in a research report on Friday. Morgan Stanley restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Southern in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. UBS Group lifted their price target on Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Southern from $95.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Southern presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $93.07.

Southern Stock Performance

NYSE SO traded down $0.40 during trading on Friday, hitting $91.06. The company's stock had a trading volume of 4,060,834 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,465,625. The Southern Company has a 52 week low of $74.88 and a 52 week high of $94.45. 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 firm has a market cap of $100.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.39. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $90.09 and a 200 day moving average price of $87.42.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $7.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.17 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.03 EPS. The business's revenue was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 issued a dividend of $0.74 per share. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.25%. This is a positive change from Southern's previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. Southern's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 73.82%.

Insider Activity at Southern

In other Southern news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 106,819 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,946,985.28. This represents a 23.16 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.00, for a total transaction of $1,250,440.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,236 shares in the company, valued at $1,138,296. This trade represents a 52.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 47,855 shares of company stock worth $4,348,784. 0.16% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.