Fundamentun LLC Has $279,000 Holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Fundamentun LLC lessened its holdings in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO – Get Rating) by 8.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 3,902 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 359 shares during the period. Fundamentun LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $279,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Chilton Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Southern in the second quarter valued at $25,000. My Personal CFO LLC acquired a new position in shares of Southern in the 4th quarter valued at about $38,000. Karp Capital Management Corp bought a new stake in shares of Southern during the 3rd quarter valued at about $40,000. First Personal Financial Services acquired a new stake in Southern during the third quarter worth approximately $41,000. Finally, EWG Elevate Inc. acquired a new stake in Southern during the fourth quarter worth approximately $48,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 61.78% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on SO. Credit Suisse Group raised their target price on Southern from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 18th. UBS Group decreased their target price on Southern to $80.00 in a research note on Monday, November 21st. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Southern from $64.00 to $61.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 22nd. StockNews.com began coverage on Southern in a research note on Thursday. They set a “sell” rating for the company. Finally, Wolfe Research raised Southern from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $76.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday, December 12th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Southern currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $71.93.

Insider Activity at Southern

In related news, EVP Christopher Cummiskey sold 1,282 shares of Southern stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.60, for a total transaction of $85,381.20. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 27,512 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,832,299.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, EVP Christopher Cummiskey sold 1,282 shares of Southern stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.60, for a total transaction of $85,381.20. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 27,512 shares in the company, valued at $1,832,299.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Stephen E. Kuczynski sold 14,546 shares of Southern stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.95, for a total value of $1,032,038.70. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 120,786 shares in the company, valued at $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 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.37% of the company’s stock.

Southern Stock Down 0.3 %

Southern stock traded down $0.22 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $67.90. The stock had a trading volume of 10,618,937 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,706,805. The firm has a market capitalization of $73.94 billion, a PE ratio of 20.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.71 and a beta of 0.49. 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 fifty-two week low of $58.85 and a fifty-two week high of $80.57. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $66.86 and its 200-day simple moving average is $68.60.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $0.24 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $7.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.83 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 11.73% and a net margin of 12.40%. Southern’s quarterly revenue was up 22.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.36 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 3.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

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

Southern Company 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.