Sivia Capital Partners LLC Raises Stock Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Sivia Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 13.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,131 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 383 shares during the quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $258,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Southern by 168.1% during the third quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC now owns 311 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 195 shares during the last quarter. West Branch Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Southern by 34.7% in the third quarter. West Branch Capital LLC now owns 501 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 129 shares in the last quarter. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in shares of Southern during the third quarter valued at $49,000. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in Southern in the third quarter worth about $49,000. Finally, Activest Wealth Management bought a new position in Southern in the 3rd quarter valued at about $54,000. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SO has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on shares of Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. Barclays upped their price target on Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Southern in a research note on Friday, September 20th. They set a “hold” rating and a $94.00 target price on the stock. Guggenheim boosted their price objective on shares of Southern from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Southern presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $90.14.

Insider Transactions at Southern

In other Southern news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.90, for a total transaction of $100,503.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 88,393 shares in the company, valued at $7,592,958.70. This trade represents a 1.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Southern Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE:SO traded up $0.39 during trading on Monday, hitting $81.71. 2,246,030 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,594,222. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $85.22 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $86.13. The Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $65.80 and a fifty-two week high of $94.45. The stock has a market cap of $89.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.00, a P/E/G ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 0.52.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $7.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.14 billion. Southern had a net margin of 17.87% and a return on equity of 12.78%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.42 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 4.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 18th were given a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 18th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 66.98%.

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.