Waterford Advisors LLC Has $222,000 Stock Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Waterford Advisors LLC reduced its stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 10.9% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,091 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 380 shares during the quarter. Waterford Advisors LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $222,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. bought a new stake in Southern in the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Scarborough Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southern in the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its holdings in shares of Southern by 62.0% in the 1st quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 444 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 170 shares during the last quarter. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Southern by 3,628.6% during the 1st quarter. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 522 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 508 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Valley National Advisers Inc. grew its holdings in Southern by 63.9% during the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 526 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 205 shares during the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the stock. UBS Group lowered shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $78.00 to $76.00 in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Southern from $73.00 to $79.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Southern from $66.00 to $71.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Argus upped their target price on shares of Southern from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 15th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and set a $76.00 target price (up from $72.00) on shares of Southern in a research report on Monday, April 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Southern has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $76.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Anthony L. Wilson sold 6,900 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.61, for a total transaction of $535,509.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 85,309 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,620,831.49. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Anthony L. Wilson sold 6,900 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.61, for a total transaction of $535,509.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 85,309 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,620,831.49. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Sloane N. Drake sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.61, for a total value of $931,320.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,771 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,301,597.31. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 28,026 shares of company stock valued at $2,151,644. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Southern Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE:SO traded up $0.89 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $83.06. The stock had a trading volume of 3,571,734 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,449,447. The firm has a market cap of $90.82 billion, a PE ratio of 21.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 0.51. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $79.14 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $73.65. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67. The Southern Company has a twelve month low of $61.56 and a twelve month high of $83.46.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The utilities provider reported $1.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $6.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.59 billion. Southern had a net margin of 16.74% and a return on equity of 12.07%. Southern’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.79 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 6th. Investors of record on Monday, August 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 19th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.47%. Southern’s payout ratio is 74.42%.

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.