First City Capital Management Inc. Decreases Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

First City Capital Management Inc. lessened its holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 13.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 19,767 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 3,011 shares during the period. Southern makes up approximately 1.1% of First City Capital Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 23rd largest position. First City Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $1,818,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Syverson Strege & Co boosted its position in shares of Southern by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Syverson Strege & Co now owns 4,264 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $351,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. Providence Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Southern by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Providence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 41,073 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,381,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Coastal Bridge Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Southern by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Coastal Bridge Advisors LLC now owns 32,508 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,676,000 after acquiring an additional 122 shares in the last quarter. Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC boosted its position in shares of Southern by 15.9% during the 4th quarter. Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC now owns 895 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $74,000 after acquiring an additional 123 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Elevate Wealth Advisory Inc. boosted its position in shares of Southern by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Elevate Wealth Advisory Inc. now owns 6,200 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $510,000 after acquiring an additional 123 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently issued reports on SO. Jefferies Financial Group raised Southern from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $102.00 to $100.00 in a research report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Southern from $95.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Southern from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Barclays upped their target price on Southern from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Southern from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $94.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Southern has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $92.64.

Southern Stock Down 0.1%

SO opened at $88.26 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $89.70 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $87.29. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60. The company has a market cap of $97.00 billion, a PE ratio of 22.01, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.38. The Southern Company has a 52 week low of $76.96 and a 52 week high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $7.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.17 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.23% and a net margin of 16.47%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.03 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 19th were paid a dividend of $0.74 per share. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.35%. This is an increase from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is 70.64%.

Insider Transactions at Southern

In other news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 106,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,946,985.28. This represents a 23.16% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.16% 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.