Ameritas Advisory Services LLC Trims Stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Ameritas Advisory Services LLC cut its position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 7.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,872 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 638 shares during the quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $611,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bfsg LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 5,028.4% during the second quarter. Bfsg LLC now owns 74,670 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,792,000 after purchasing an additional 73,214 shares during the last quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors grew its stake in shares of Southern by 2.9% in the second quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 107,557 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $8,343,000 after acquiring an additional 3,034 shares during the last quarter. Zevin Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Southern in the 2nd quarter worth about $206,000. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. grew its position in Southern by 105.6% during the 2nd quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 2,418 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $188,000 after purchasing an additional 1,242 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northeast Investment Management bought a new stake in Southern during the 2nd quarter valued at about $201,000. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Southern from $66.00 to $71.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Bank of America lifted their target price on Southern from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Southern from $80.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Southern from $77.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $83.71.

Southern Price Performance

SO stock traded down $0.10 during trading on Friday, reaching $85.70. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 993,820 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,439,292. The company’s fifty day moving average is $82.67 and its 200-day moving average is $76.33. The Southern Company has a 1 year low of $61.56 and a 1 year high of $89.68. The company has a market capitalization of $93.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted 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 business had revenue of $6.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.10 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.88% and a net margin of 17.67%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.79 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 19th will be paid a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.36%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 19th. Southern’s payout ratio is currently 74.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In other news, EVP Sloane N. Drake sold 12,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.61, for a total transaction of $931,320.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,771 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,301,597.31. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Sloane N. Drake sold 12,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.61, for a total transaction of $931,320.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 16,771 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,301,597.31. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Anthony L. Wilson sold 6,900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.61, for a total value of $535,509.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 85,309 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,620,831.49. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 21,280 shares of company stock valued at $1,678,625 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.18% 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.