The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Stake Lowered by Symphony Financial Ltd. Co.

Symphony Financial Ltd. Co. lessened its holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 29.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 12,247 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 5,056 shares during the period. Symphony Financial Ltd. Co.’s holdings in Southern were worth $879,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Rockline Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southern in the 4th quarter valued at $1,945,000. Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Southern in the 4th quarter valued at $16,067,000. Angeles Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Southern by 13.3% in the 4th quarter. Angeles Investment Advisors LLC now owns 5,202 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $365,000 after purchasing an additional 612 shares during the last quarter. Savant Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Southern by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 65,937 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,624,000 after purchasing an additional 2,691 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Zullo Investment Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Southern by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Zullo Investment Group Inc. now owns 3,437 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $241,000 after purchasing an additional 157 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Southern news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 9,126 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.04, for a total transaction of $684,815.04. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 121,504 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,117,660.16. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SO has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Southern from $73.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Southern from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Scotiabank cut their target price on shares of Southern from $80.00 to $77.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Southern from $72.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Southern from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Southern currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $76.14.

Southern Price Performance

NYSE SO traded down $0.47 on Friday, reaching $77.57. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 6,226,973 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,873,369. The firm has a market cap of $84.82 billion, a PE ratio of 20.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.51. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $77.58 and a 200 day moving average price of $72.28. The Southern Company has a 52 week low of $61.56 and a 52 week high of $80.84. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The utilities provider reported $1.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $6.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.59 billion. Southern had a net margin of 16.74% and a return on equity of 12.07%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.79 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4 EPS for the current year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 20th were paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.71%. This is a boost from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 17th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is currently 74.42%.

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.