Confluence Wealth Services Inc. Reduces Stock Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Confluence Wealth Services Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 12.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 16,590 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 2,333 shares during the quarter. Confluence Wealth Services Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $1,496,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in SO. Intech Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Southern by 382.0% during the 1st quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 41,790 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,998,000 after purchasing an additional 33,120 shares in the last quarter. Nwam LLC increased its stake in Southern by 8.8% in the 1st quarter. Nwam LLC now owns 11,605 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $890,000 after acquiring an additional 937 shares during the last quarter. Burke & Herbert Bank & Trust Co. raised its holdings in shares of Southern by 149.5% in the 2nd quarter. Burke & Herbert Bank & Trust Co. now owns 16,230 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,259,000 after acquiring an additional 9,726 shares in the last quarter. HBW Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in shares of Southern by 219.4% during the 3rd quarter. HBW Advisory Services LLC now owns 8,971 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $809,000 after acquiring an additional 6,162 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Triad Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Southern during the second quarter worth about $455,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Southern from $78.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Mizuho lowered Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $90.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Southern from $77.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Finally, Wolfe Research cut shares of Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Southern has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $89.27.

Southern Trading Down 2.7 %

Shares of NYSE SO opened at $88.54 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $96.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.26 and a beta of 0.52. 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 Southern Company has a 1 year low of $65.80 and a 1 year high of $94.45. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $89.74 and a 200 day moving average of $83.26.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. Southern had a return on equity of 12.90% and a net margin of 17.87%. The company had revenue of $6.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.10 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.79 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side 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, December 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. Southern’s payout ratio is 66.98%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO James Y. Kerr II sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 145,088 shares in the company, valued at $13,005,688.32. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.54, for a total transaction of $587,830.10. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,467 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,981,575.18. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO James Y. Kerr II sold 30,000 shares of Southern stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 145,088 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,005,688.32. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 38,945 shares of company stock worth $3,488,826 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.