Westwood Holdings Group Inc. Has $248,000 Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Westwood Holdings Group Inc. reduced its stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 45.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,450 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 2,822 shares during the quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $248,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. bought a new position in Southern in the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Scarborough Advisors LLC bought a new position in Southern in the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its position in 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 buying an additional 170 shares during the period. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its position in Southern by 3,628.6% in the 1st quarter. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 522 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 508 shares during the period. Finally, Valley National Advisers Inc. increased its position in Southern by 63.9% in the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 526 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 205 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Sloane N. Drake sold 12,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.61, for a total transaction of $931,320.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 16,771 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,301,597.31. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Anthony L. Wilson sold 6,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.61, for a total value of $535,509.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 85,309 shares in the company, valued at $6,620,831.49. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Sloane N. Drake sold 12,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.61, for a total value of $931,320.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 16,771 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,301,597.31. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on SO. Scotiabank lifted their price target on Southern from $77.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Southern from $83.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Southern from $74.00 to $71.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 24th. Argus boosted their price objective on Southern from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 15th. Finally, Wolfe Research cut Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $80.33.

Southern Price Performance

Southern stock traded up $1.01 on Friday, reaching $88.58. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 7,196,642 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,794,487. 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 company has a market cap of $96.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.89, a PEG ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 0.51. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $79.73 and its 200 day moving average price is $74.02. The Southern Company has a twelve month low of $61.56 and a twelve month high of $89.24.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The utilities provider reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.13. Southern had a return on equity of 12.95% and a net margin of 17.67%. The company had revenue of $6.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.59 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.79 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 19th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.