Aventura Private Wealth LLC Buys Shares of 7,190 Southern Company (The) $SO

Aventura Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund purchased 7,190 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $627,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of SO. Cloud Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Southern in the 3rd quarter worth $25,000. Grey Fox Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Southern during the third quarter valued at about $29,000. Triumph Capital Management bought a new stake in Southern during the third quarter valued at about $29,000. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. purchased a new stake in Southern in the third quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, Chilton Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Southern by 120.1% in the third quarter. Chilton Capital Management LLC now owns 361 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 197 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Southern

In other Southern news, EVP Christopher Cummiskey sold 6,669 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.55, for a total value of $643,891.95. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 30,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,973,740. This trade represents a 17.80% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Southern from $104.00 to $93.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 15th. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Southern from $91.00 to $88.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 15th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Southern in a report on Friday, February 20th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Southern in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Southern from $98.00 to $94.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Southern currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $98.08.

Southern Stock Down 2.9%

NYSE SO opened at $93.49 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $92.77 and a 200 day moving average price of $91.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a current ratio of 0.65. The company has a market cap of $102.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.79, a P/E/G ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.44. Southern Company has a one year low of $83.09 and a one year high of $100.83.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The utilities provider reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.56 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $6.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.41 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.52% and a net margin of 14.69%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.50 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 17th were paid a dividend of $0.74 per share. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 17th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is currently 75.32%.

Southern Profile

Southern Company (NYSE: SO) is an Atlanta-based energy holding company that provides electric and gas utility services and owns power generation assets across the United States. Founded in 1945, the company operates a portfolio of regulated electric utilities and affiliated businesses that generate, transmit and distribute electricity to residential, commercial and industrial customers.

Southern’s principal regulated electric subsidiaries include Georgia Power, Alabama Power and Mississippi Power, which serve large portions of the southeastern United States.