Wills Financial Group Inc. Purchases 8,347 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Wills Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 27.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 38,365 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 8,347 shares during the period. Southern makes up about 1.4% of Wills Financial Group Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 29th largest position. Wills Financial Group Inc.'s holdings in Southern were worth $3,158,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. YANKCOM Partnership bought a new stake in Southern in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. WFA Asset Management Corp raised its stake in 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 in the last quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. grew its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 308 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $35,000. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the company's stock in a transaction 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 completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 47,855 shares of company stock worth $4,348,784 in the last quarter. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SO has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Guggenheim cut shares of Southern from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Morgan Stanley restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Southern in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. UBS Group raised their target price on Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded 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. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $92.54.

Southern Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of SO traded up $0.30 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $92.19. The stock had a trading volume of 1,730,440 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,972,045. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $90.02 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $87.41. The firm has a market cap of $101.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60. The Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $74.64 and a fifty-two week high of $94.45.

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 for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $7.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.03 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be paid a $0.74 dividend. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.21%. This is a positive change from Southern's previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. Southern's dividend payout ratio is currently 73.82%.

Southern Company 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.