Appleton Partners Inc. MA Sells 136 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Appleton Partners Inc. MA decreased its stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 3.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,220 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 136 shares during the quarter. Appleton Partners Inc. MA’s holdings in Southern were worth $327,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in Southern by 11.6% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 26,917 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,887,000 after purchasing an additional 2,800 shares in the last quarter. Householder Group Estate & Retirement Specialist LLC boosted its stake in Southern by 50.2% in the fourth quarter. Householder Group Estate & Retirement Specialist LLC now owns 1,648 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $115,000 after purchasing an additional 551 shares in the last quarter. Heartland Bank & Trust Co acquired a new position in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter valued at $272,000. Trust Point Inc. bought a new position in Southern in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,197,000. Finally, Clear Creek Financial Management LLC increased its position in Southern by 7.5% in the fourth quarter. Clear Creek Financial Management LLC now owns 7,426 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $521,000 after purchasing an additional 518 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Southern

In other news, Director The Ernest J. Moniz 2018 Trust 8,948 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 30th. The was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Southern news, CEO Anthony L. Wilson sold 6,900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.61, for a total transaction of $535,509.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 85,309 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,620,831.49. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director The Ernest J. Moniz 2018 Trust 8,948 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 30th. The disclosure for this trade can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Southern Stock Up 1.2 %

NYSE SO traded up $1.01 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $88.58. 7,196,642 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,794,487. The company’s 50-day moving average is $79.73 and its two-hundred day moving average is $74.04. The Southern Company has a one year low of $61.56 and a one year high of $89.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.92. The company has a market capitalization of $96.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 0.51.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $6.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.10 billion. Southern had a net margin of 17.67% and a return on equity of 12.95%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.79 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 6th. Investors of record on Monday, August 19th will be paid a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 19th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.25%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is presently 74.42%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SO has been the subject of several analyst reports. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Southern from $66.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Southern from $77.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday. Wolfe Research downgraded Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Argus raised their target price on Southern from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $80.33.

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.