Carmichael Hill & Associates Inc. Sells 284 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Carmichael Hill & Associates Inc. cut its stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 3.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,669 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 284 shares during the quarter. Carmichael Hill & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $672,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of SO. Modera Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Southern by 1.4% during the second quarter. Modera Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,048 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $702,000 after buying an additional 124 shares during the last quarter. Red Door Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Southern by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. Red Door Wealth Management LLC now owns 13,926 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,080,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. Elwood & Goetz Wealth Advisory Group LLC raised its position in Southern by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. Elwood & Goetz Wealth Advisory Group LLC now owns 6,352 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $493,000 after buying an additional 128 shares during the last quarter. Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Southern by 2.0% in the second quarter. Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC now owns 6,595 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $512,000 after purchasing an additional 131 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its holdings in Southern by 31.8% during the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 585 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 141 shares during the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Anthony L. Wilson sold 6,900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.61, for a total transaction of $535,509.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 85,309 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,620,831.49. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Southern news, EVP Sloane N. Drake sold 12,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.61, for a total value of $931,320.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 16,771 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,301,597.31. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Anthony L. Wilson sold 6,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.61, for a total transaction of $535,509.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 85,309 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,620,831.49. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 21,280 shares of company stock valued at $1,678,625 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on SO. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Southern from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Southern from $77.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Argus upped their price objective on shares of Southern from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 15th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Southern from $87.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of Southern from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Southern currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $83.71.

Southern Price Performance

NYSE SO traded up $0.37 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $89.28. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 989,612 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,449,534. The Southern Company has a one year low of $61.56 and a one year high of $90.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $97.62 billion, a PE ratio of 22.97, a P/E/G ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.52. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $83.33 and a 200 day moving average of $76.94.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.19. The business had revenue of $6.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.10 billion. Southern had a net margin of 17.67% and a return on equity of 12.88%. Southern’s quarterly revenue was up 12.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.79 earnings per share. Analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 19th will be given a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 19th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.23%. Southern’s payout ratio is 74.42%.

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.