Leisure Capital Management Sells 3,426 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Leisure Capital Management reduced its position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 28.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,730 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 3,426 shares during the quarter. Leisure Capital Management’s holdings in Southern were worth $719,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Southern in the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in Southern by 168.1% in the third quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC now owns 311 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 195 shares in the last quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp lifted its holdings in Southern by 84.9% in the fourth quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 429 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 197 shares during the period. Valley National Advisers Inc. boosted its position in Southern by 244.4% during the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 434 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 308 shares in the last quarter. Finally, West Branch Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Southern by 34.7% in the 3rd quarter. West Branch Capital LLC now owns 501 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $45,000 after acquiring an additional 129 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SO has been the topic of several research reports. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on shares of Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Guggenheim cut shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on shares of Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Southern currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $90.14.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Southern news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.90, for a total transaction of $100,503.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 88,393 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,592,958.70. This trade represents a 1.31 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Southern Trading Down 1.2 %

NYSE:SO opened at $83.91 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 Southern Company has a 12 month low of $65.80 and a 12 month high of $94.45. The company has a market cap of $91.93 billion, a PE ratio of 19.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $83.92 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $86.64.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.10. Southern had a net margin of 17.87% and a return on equity of 12.78%. The business had revenue of $7.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.14 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.42 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is currently 66.98%.

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.