The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Shares Sold by Morris Financial Concepts Inc.

Morris Financial Concepts Inc. lowered its position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 6.1% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 3,219 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 210 shares during the quarter. Morris Financial Concepts Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $231,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Southern in the fourth quarter valued at $631,068,000. Capital International Investors boosted its position in Southern by 53.2% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 16,444,163 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,153,065,000 after purchasing an additional 5,707,845 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its stake in shares of Southern by 38.5% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,547,188 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $488,461,000 after buying an additional 2,096,988 shares in the last quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Southern in the 1st quarter worth approximately $128,413,000. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Southern by 6,303.7% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,199,544 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $84,112,000 after purchasing an additional 1,180,812 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In other Southern news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 9,126 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.04, for a total transaction of $684,815.04. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now 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 can be accessed through this link. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of Southern stock traded down $0.57 on Monday, reaching $77.00. 2,935,697 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,644,999. The firm has a market cap of $84.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.90, a P/E/G ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.51. The company’s 50-day moving average is $77.58 and its two-hundred day moving average is $72.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.92. The Southern Company has a 1-year low of $61.56 and a 1-year high of $80.84.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The utilities provider reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $6.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.59 billion. Southern had a net margin of 16.74% and a return on equity of 12.07%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.79 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 6th. Investors of record on Monday, May 20th were given a $0.72 dividend. This is a boost from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 17th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 74.42%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SO has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Southern from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. UBS Group downgraded Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $78.00 to $76.00 in a report on Thursday, April 4th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $76.00 target price (up from $72.00) on shares of Southern in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Southern from $73.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Finally, Argus increased their price objective on shares of Southern from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Southern currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $76.14.

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.