Nwam LLC Purchases 937 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Nwam LLC grew its holdings in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 8.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,605 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 937 shares during the period. Nwam LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $890,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. bought a new position in Southern during the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Scarborough Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southern in the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its position in Southern by 62.0% in the 1st quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 444 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 170 shares in the last quarter. BKM Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Southern during the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, Valley National Advisers Inc. boosted its holdings in Southern by 63.9% in the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 526 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 205 shares in the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed 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. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Southern from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Southern from $73.00 to $79.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 31st. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Southern from $74.00 to $71.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 24th. Finally, Argus lifted their price target on Southern from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $76.50.

Southern Stock Up 0.1 %

SO stock opened at $81.40 on Friday. The Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $61.56 and a fifty-two week high of $82.84. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $78.78 and a 200-day moving average of $73.20. The company has a market capitalization of $89.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.03, a PEG ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.92.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The utilities provider reported $1.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 net margin of 16.74% and a return on equity of 12.07%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.79 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 19th will be issued a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 19th. Southern’s payout ratio is 74.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Sloane N. Drake sold 12,000 shares of Southern stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.61, for a total transaction of $931,320.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,771 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,301,597.31. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Sloane N. Drake sold 12,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.61, for a total value of $931,320.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,771 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,301,597.31. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 9,126 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.04, for a total transaction of $684,815.04. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 121,504 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,117,660.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 28,026 shares of company stock worth $2,151,644 over the last ninety days. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.