The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Shares Sold by HM Payson & Co.

HM Payson & Co. cut its position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 3.4% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 9,833 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 348 shares during the period. HM Payson & Co.’s holdings in Southern were worth $705,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of SO. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. Scarborough Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its stake in shares of Southern by 62.0% in the first 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 last quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Southern by 63.9% in the fourth 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 last quarter. Finally, Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Southern by 3,628.6% in the first 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 last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Southern Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SO traded up $1.01 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $88.58. The stock had a trading volume of 7,196,642 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,794,487. The company has a market capitalization of $96.86 billion, a PE ratio of 22.89, a P/E/G ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 0.51. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $79.73 and a 200-day simple moving average of $74.04. The Southern Company has a 1 year low of $61.56 and a 1 year high of $89.24. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The utilities provider reported $1.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 return on equity of 12.95% and a net margin of 17.67%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.79 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 6th. Investors of record on Monday, August 19th will be issued a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 19th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.25%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is presently 74.42%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on SO. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Southern from $83.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Wolfe Research downgraded Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Friday. Argus upped their target price on Southern from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 15th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target 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. Finally, Scotiabank increased 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $80.33.

Insider Activity at Southern

In related news, Director The Ernest J. Moniz 2018 Trust 8,948 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 30th. The was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, Director The Ernest J. Moniz 2018 Trust 8,948 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 30th. The was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Sloane N. Drake sold 12,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 approximately $1,301,597.31. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Southern Company 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.