Abbrea Capital LLC Acquires 850 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Abbrea Capital LLC boosted its position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 4.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 19,027 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 850 shares during the quarter. Abbrea Capital LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $1,334,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Syon Capital LLC bought a new stake in Southern in the 4th quarter worth $437,000. BIP Wealth LLC lifted its position in Southern by 27.1% during the 4th quarter. BIP Wealth LLC now owns 10,258 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $719,000 after acquiring an additional 2,185 shares during the period. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in Southern by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 43,747 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,068,000 after acquiring an additional 1,417 shares during the period. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. raised its holdings in Southern by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. now owns 88,390 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,198,000 after buying an additional 2,059 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wynn Capital LLC purchased a new position in Southern in the fourth quarter worth about $339,000. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on SO. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and set a $76.00 target price (up from $72.00) on shares of Southern in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Southern from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Southern from $75.00 to $72.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Scotiabank decreased their price target on shares of Southern from $80.00 to $77.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on shares of Southern from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Southern has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $74.36.

Southern Stock Down 1.6 %

Shares of NYSE:SO traded down $1.16 during trading on Friday, reaching $73.21. The stock had a trading volume of 5,478,474 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,729,207. The Southern Company has a one year low of $61.56 and a one year high of $75.80. The company has a market capitalization of $80.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.49, a PEG ratio of 4.63 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $69.50 and its 200 day simple moving average is $69.31.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 15.79% and a return on equity of 11.40%. The firm had revenue of $6.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.90 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.26 EPS. Southern’s revenue was down 14.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 3.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 6th. Investors of record on Monday, May 20th will be paid a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 17th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.93%. This is a boost from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 77.14%.

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.