Fiduciary Group LLC Sells 3,067 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Fiduciary Group LLC decreased its holdings in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 3.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 99,467 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 3,067 shares during the period. Fiduciary Group LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $8,188,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SO. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Southern by 4.6% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 24,521,339 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,203,386,000 after buying an additional 1,075,768 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Southern by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,599,710 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $543,288,000 after acquiring an additional 194,114 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Southern during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $315,290,000. Synovus Financial Corp boosted its position in shares of Southern by 72.4% in the 3rd quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 3,077,959 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $277,570,000 after purchasing an additional 1,293,072 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi boosted its position in shares of Southern by 11.4% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 2,780,137 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $230,807,000 after purchasing an additional 284,022 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective 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. Mizuho boosted their target price 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. Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Guggenheim lowered Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $90.54.

Insider Activity at Southern

In related news, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.00, for a total value of $1,250,440.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,236 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,138,296. This represents a 52.35 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.12, for a total transaction of $2,997,532.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 106,819 shares in the company, valued at $9,946,985.28. This trade represents a 23.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 47,855 shares of company stock valued at $4,348,784. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Southern Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of Southern stock opened at $89.65 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $86.39 and a 200 day moving average of $87.22. 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 market capitalization of $98.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.36, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.67.

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

Southern Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th were issued a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. Southern’s payout ratio is 71.82%.

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.