The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Shares Sold by FourThought Financial Partners LLC

FourThought Financial Partners LLC reduced its holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 10.3% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 9,649 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,106 shares during the quarter. FourThought Financial Partners LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $677,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. BKM Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Southern in the 4th 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 worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 205 shares in the last quarter. CNB Bank raised its position in shares of Southern by 1,021.4% during the 3rd quarter. CNB Bank now owns 628 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 572 shares during the last quarter. Your Advocates Ltd. LLP purchased a new position in Southern in the 3rd quarter valued at about $42,000. Finally, Atticus Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Southern by 30.4% in the 3rd quarter. Atticus Wealth Management LLC now owns 652 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 152 shares during the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SO has been the topic of several research reports. UBS Group downgraded Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $78.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Scotiabank lowered their target price on shares of Southern from $80.00 to $77.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Southern from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and set a $76.00 price target (up from $72.00) on shares of Southern in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Finally, Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Southern from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned 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.com, Southern has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $74.71.

Southern Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE SO traded up $0.52 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $75.85. 4,578,202 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,244,740. The Southern Company has a twelve month low of $61.56 and a twelve month high of $75.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $83.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.60, a PEG ratio of 4.75 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $70.39 and a 200 day simple moving average of $69.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a current ratio of 0.77.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The utilities provider reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $6.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.59 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.11% and a net margin of 16.74%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.79 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 3.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 17th. This is a positive change from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 72.35%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In other news, EVP Christopher Cummiskey sold 899 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.06, for a total value of $60,286.94. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 22,502 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,508,984.12. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Southern news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 9,126 shares of Southern stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.04, for a total value of $684,815.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 121,504 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,117,660.16. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Christopher Cummiskey sold 899 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.06, for a total transaction of $60,286.94. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 22,502 shares in the company, valued at $1,508,984.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 20,025 shares of company stock worth $1,424,402 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.