AM Investment Strategies LLC Has $4.72 Million Stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

AM Investment Strategies LLC boosted its stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 0.3% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 67,301 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 206 shares during the period. Southern accounts for approximately 1.3% of AM Investment Strategies LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 15th largest position. AM Investment Strategies LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $4,719,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Insigneo Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in Southern by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. Insigneo Advisory Services LLC now owns 4,883 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $316,000 after buying an additional 146 shares in the last quarter. Good Life Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Southern by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Good Life Advisors LLC now owns 19,956 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,399,000 after purchasing an additional 149 shares in the last quarter. Insight Inv LLC raised its position in shares of Southern by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Insight Inv LLC now owns 10,530 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $738,000 after acquiring an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Patten & Patten Inc. TN raised its position in shares of Southern by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Patten & Patten Inc. TN now owns 20,736 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,454,000 after acquiring an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CNB Bank raised its position in shares of Southern by 23.9% during the fourth quarter. CNB Bank now owns 778 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $55,000 after acquiring an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on SO. Mizuho upped their price objective on Southern from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $80.00 target price on shares of Southern in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Scotiabank decreased their target price on Southern from $80.00 to $77.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. UBS Group cut Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $78.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Southern from $75.00 to $72.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Southern currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $74.36.

Southern Stock Up 0.6 %

NYSE SO traded up $0.46 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $74.37. 6,164,390 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,720,948. The business’s 50-day moving average is $69.50 and its 200-day moving average is $69.31. The Southern Company has a twelve month low of $61.56 and a twelve month high of $75.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a current ratio of 0.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $81.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.49, a P/E/G ratio of 4.58 and a beta of 0.49.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The utilities provider reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.05. Southern had a return on equity of 11.40% and a net margin of 15.79%. The firm had revenue of $6.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.90 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.26 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 14.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 4 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 20th will be paid a $0.72 dividend. This is a positive change from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 17th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.87%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is currently 77.14%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In other Southern news, CEO Stephen E. Kuczynski sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.94, for a total value of $334,700.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 129,552 shares in the company, valued at $8,672,210.88. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other Southern news, CEO Stephen E. Kuczynski sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.94, for a total value of $334,700.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 129,552 shares in the company, valued at $8,672,210.88. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Christopher Cummiskey sold 899 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.06, for a total value of $60,286.94. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 22,502 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,508,984.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 10,899 shares of company stock worth $739,587 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.