The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Shares Sold by GLOBALT Investments LLC GA

GLOBALT Investments LLC GA reduced its stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 1.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 79,510 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,230 shares during the quarter. GLOBALT Investments LLC GA’s holdings in Southern were worth $6,545,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Financial Enhancement Group LLC acquired a new position in Southern during the fourth quarter worth about $326,000. OneAscent Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in Southern during the third quarter worth about $576,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its position in Southern by 5.4% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 108,361 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $9,772,000 after buying an additional 5,589 shares during the period. Verity & Verity LLC grew its position in Southern by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Verity & Verity LLC now owns 201,971 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $16,626,000 after buying an additional 5,434 shares during the period. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. grew its position in Southern by 94.4% during the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 288,679 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $26,033,000 after buying an additional 140,151 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Southern

In related news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.12, for a total value 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 approximately $9,946,985.28. This represents a 23.16 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.00, for a total value of $1,250,440.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 13,236 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,138,296. This represents a 52.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 47,855 shares of company stock worth $4,348,784. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Southern Stock Performance

NYSE:SO opened at $90.44 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $99.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.55, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $85.88 and its two-hundred day moving average is $87.14. 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 earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $6.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.90 billion. Southern had a net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 12.23%. Analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th were given a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 71.82%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SO has been the topic of several recent research reports. Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Guggenheim downgraded shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Mizuho upped their price objective on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat, Southern has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $90.54.

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.