Folger Nolan Fleming Douglas Capital Management Inc. Purchases 687 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Folger Nolan Fleming Douglas Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 1.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 43,793 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 687 shares during the quarter. Folger Nolan Fleming Douglas Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $3,071,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BKM Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Southern during the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Valley National Advisers Inc. increased its position in Southern by 63.9% during the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 526 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 205 shares during the period. CNB Bank increased its position in Southern by 1,021.4% during the 3rd quarter. CNB Bank now owns 628 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 572 shares during the period. Your Advocates Ltd. LLP purchased a new position in Southern during the 3rd quarter valued at $42,000. Finally, Atticus Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Southern by 30.4% in the 3rd quarter. Atticus Wealth Management LLC now owns 652 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 152 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Christopher Cummiskey sold 899 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.06, for a total transaction of $60,286.94. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 22,502 shares of the company’s stock, 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 on Tuesday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.06, for a total transaction of $60,286.94. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 22,502 shares of the company’s stock, 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. Also, CEO Stephen E. Kuczynski sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.94, for a total transaction of $334,700.00. Following the sale, 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 sold 10,899 shares of company stock valued at $739,587 over the last three months. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Southern from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $80.00 price target on shares of Southern in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. UBS Group cut shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $78.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Southern from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Southern from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $74.36.

Southern Price Performance

Shares of SO stock traded down $1.16 on Friday, reaching $73.21. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 5,478,762 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,829,927. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $69.64 and its 200-day simple moving average is $69.36. The Southern Company has a 1 year low of $61.56 and a 1 year high of $75.80. 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 company has a market capitalization of $80.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.66 and a beta of 0.49.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The utilities provider reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 earnings per share. Southern’s revenue for the quarter was down 14.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 3.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The company 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 dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.93%. This is a positive change from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 17th. Southern’s payout ratio is presently 77.14%.

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.