Thomasville National Bank Cuts Stock Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Thomasville National Bank lowered its holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 90,453 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 518 shares during the period. Thomasville National Bank’s holdings in Southern were worth $8,157,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Scarborough Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its position in shares of Southern by 62.0% during the 1st quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 444 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 170 shares during the last quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Southern during the 2nd quarter valued at $39,000. Finally, Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Southern by 3,628.6% during the 1st quarter. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 522 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 508 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Southern Price Performance

Shares of Southern stock opened at $88.96 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $97.27 billion, a PE ratio of 21.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 0.52. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $88.31 and its 200-day moving average price is $81.07. The Southern Company has a 12 month low of $64.53 and a 12 month high of $91.86.

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

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO James Y. Kerr II sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.64, for a total transaction of $2,689,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 145,088 shares in the company, valued at $13,005,688.32. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CEO James Y. Kerr II sold 30,000 shares of Southern stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.64, for a total value of $2,689,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 145,088 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,005,688.32. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Sterling A. Jr. Spainhour sold 2,380 shares of Southern stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.99, for a total value of $211,796.20. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 12,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,112,375. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 38,945 shares of company stock worth $3,488,826. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SO has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Southern from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Mizuho lowered Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $90.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Wolfe Research lowered Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Guggenheim boosted their price objective on Southern from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Southern from $78.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Southern has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $88.27.

About Southern

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.