Wynn Capital LLC Buys Shares of 4,828 The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Wynn Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 4,828 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $339,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in SO. BKM Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Southern in the fourth quarter worth $34,000. Valley National Advisers Inc. increased its stake in shares of Southern by 63.9% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. CNB Bank grew its holdings in shares of Southern by 1,021.4% during the third quarter. CNB Bank now owns 628 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 572 shares during the last quarter. Your Advocates Ltd. LLP purchased a new stake in Southern in the third quarter worth approximately $42,000. Finally, Cetera Trust Company N.A bought a new stake in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter valued at $46,000. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on SO shares. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $80.00 price objective on shares of Southern in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Southern from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday. UBS Group downgraded shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $78.00 to $76.00 in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Southern from $75.00 to $72.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 16th. 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 report on Monday, April 15th. One equities research 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Southern currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $74.36.

Southern Stock Up 0.9 %

NYSE:SO traded up $0.67 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $73.92. The stock had a trading volume of 5,660,756 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,702,166. 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 Southern Company has a 1-year low of $61.56 and a 1-year high of $75.80. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $69.23 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $69.24. The company has a market cap of $80.92 billion, a PE ratio of 20.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.56 and a beta of 0.49.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The utilities provider reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $6.05 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.90 billion. Southern had a net margin of 15.79% and a return on equity of 11.40%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 14.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.26 earnings per share. Analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4 EPS 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 issued a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.90%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 17th. This is an increase from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. Southern’s payout ratio is currently 77.13%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Southern news, EVP Christopher Cummiskey sold 899 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 22,502 shares in the company, valued at $1,508,984.12. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, EVP Christopher Cummiskey sold 899 shares of Southern 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 document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Stephen E. Kuczynski sold 5,000 shares of Southern stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.92, for a total transaction of $344,600.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 126,528 shares in the company, valued at $8,720,309.76. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 10,899 shares of company stock valued at $739,587 over the last 90 days. 0.28% of the stock is owned by company 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.