Sovereign Financial Group Inc. Has $2.72 Million Stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Sovereign Financial Group Inc. trimmed its stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 1.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 38,743 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 635 shares during the period. Southern comprises approximately 0.8% of Sovereign Financial Group Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th biggest position. Sovereign Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $2,717,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Rockline Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Southern during the fourth quarter worth about $1,945,000. Savant Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Southern by 4.3% during the fourth quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 65,937 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,624,000 after acquiring an additional 2,691 shares in the last quarter. Zullo Investment Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Southern by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Zullo Investment Group Inc. now owns 3,437 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $241,000 after acquiring an additional 157 shares in the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Southern by 5.8% in the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 14,856 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,045,000 after buying an additional 819 shares during the period. Finally, Apella Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter worth $301,000. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on SO shares. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Southern from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of 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 restated an “outperform” rating and set a $80.00 target price on shares of Southern in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. UBS Group lowered Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $78.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Scotiabank dropped their price objective on shares of Southern from $80.00 to $77.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $74.71.

Insider Activity at Southern

In other Southern news, CEO Stephen E. Kuczynski sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.94, for a total transaction of $334,700.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 129,552 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,672,210.88. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Southern news, CEO Stephen E. Kuczynski sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.94, for a total transaction of $334,700.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 129,552 shares in the company, valued at $8,672,210.88. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 9,126 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.04, for a total value of $684,815.04. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 121,504 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,117,660.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 19,126 shares of company stock valued at $1,364,115 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Southern Stock Up 0.9 %

NYSE SO traded up $0.68 on Wednesday, reaching $77.63. 6,676,933 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,845,073. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.92. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $70.78 and a 200-day moving average price of $69.82. The company has a market cap of $84.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.87, a PEG ratio of 4.75 and a beta of 0.48. The Southern Company has a 12 month low of $61.56 and a 12 month high of $77.77.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The utilities provider reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $6.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.59 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.07% and a net margin of 16.74%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.79 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 3.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 6th. Investors of record on Monday, May 20th will be given a dividend of $0.72 per share. This is a positive change from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.71%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 17th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is currently 72.35%.

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.