The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Shares Sold by Davis R M Inc.

Davis R M Inc. lowered its holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 7.1% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 3,006 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 230 shares during the quarter. Davis R M Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $247,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in SO. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in Southern during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. YANKCOM Partnership acquired a new stake in Southern during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Southern by 168.1% during the 3rd quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC now owns 311 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 195 shares in the last quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp grew its holdings in Southern by 84.9% during the 4th quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 429 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Valley National Advisers Inc. grew its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 308 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SO has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Guggenheim downgraded shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price target 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Southern presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $90.54.

Southern Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE:SO opened at $88.72 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $97.31 billion, a PE ratio of 22.13, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $85.56 and its 200 day moving average price is $87.08. The Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $67.53 and a fifty-two week high of $94.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.51 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $6.34 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.90 billion. Southern had a net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 12.23%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.25%. Southern’s payout ratio is 71.82%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In other Southern news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.12, for a total transaction of $2,997,532.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 106,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,946,985.28. This trade represents a 23.16 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of Southern stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.00, for a total transaction of $1,250,440.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,236 shares in the company, valued at $1,138,296. This represents a 52.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 47,855 shares of company stock valued at $4,348,784. Company 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.