McElhenny Sheffield Capital Management LLC Takes $74,000 Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

McElhenny Sheffield Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO – Get Rating) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 1,043 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $74,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of SO. Chilton Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Southern in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Karp Capital Management Corp acquired a new stake in Southern in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $40,000. First Personal Financial Services acquired a new stake in Southern in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $41,000. EWG Elevate Inc. acquired a new stake in Southern in the 4th quarter worth approximately $48,000. Finally, Worth Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Southern by 1,944.4% in the 3rd quarter. Worth Asset Management LLC now owns 736 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $50,000 after purchasing an additional 700 shares in the last quarter. 61.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on SO. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on shares of Southern from $79.00 to $78.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 2nd. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Southern in a report on Thursday. They set a “sell” rating for the company. Wolfe Research raised shares of Southern from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $76.00 target price for the company in a report on Monday, December 12th. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Southern to $80.00 in a report on Monday, November 21st. Finally, Mizuho cut their target price on shares of Southern from $73.00 to $72.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 12th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Southern has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $71.93.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Southern news, CEO Stephen E. Kuczynski sold 14,546 shares of Southern stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.95, for a total transaction of $1,032,038.70. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 120,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,569,766.70. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, EVP Christopher Cummiskey sold 852 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.31, for a total transaction of $57,348.12. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 22,059 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,484,791.29. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Stephen E. Kuczynski sold 14,546 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.95, for a total transaction of $1,032,038.70. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 120,786 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,569,766.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 16,680 shares of company stock valued at $1,174,768 in the last 90 days. 0.37% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Southern Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SO opened at $67.90 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $73.94 billion, a PE ratio of 20.70, a PEG ratio of 4.71 and a beta of 0.49. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $66.86 and a 200 day moving average of $68.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a current ratio of 0.66. The Southern Company has a one year low of $58.85 and a one year high of $80.57.

Southern (NYSE:SO – Get Rating) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 16th. The utilities provider reported $0.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.24 by $0.02. Southern had a net margin of 12.40% and a return on equity of 11.73%. The company had revenue of $7.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.83 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.36 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 22.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 3.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 21st were paid a dividend of $0.68 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 17th. This represents a $2.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.01%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 82.93%.

Southern Profile

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The Southern Co is a holding company, which engages in the generation and sale of electricity. It operates through the following segments: Traditional Electric Operating Companies, Southern Power and Southern Company Gas. The Traditional Electric Operating Companies segment refers to vertically integrated utilities that own generation, transmission and distribution facilities, and supplies electric services in the states of Alabama, Georgia, Florida, and Mississippi.