Forsta AP Fonden Lowers Holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Forsta AP Fonden trimmed its holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 9.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 212,500 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 21,800 shares during the period. Forsta AP Fonden’s holdings in Southern were worth $16,484,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Mitchell Sinkler & Starr PA boosted its stake in Southern by 21.2% during the second quarter. Mitchell Sinkler & Starr PA now owns 17,933 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,443,000 after buying an additional 3,140 shares during the last quarter. Sentry Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Southern during the second quarter valued at approximately $399,000. LPL Financial LLC boosted its stake in Southern by 1.9% during the second quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 2,139,470 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $165,959,000 after buying an additional 40,511 shares during the last quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Southern by 40.8% during the second quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 24,400 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,893,000 after buying an additional 7,067 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vaughan David Investments LLC IL boosted its stake in Southern by 1.5% during the second quarter. Vaughan David Investments LLC IL now owns 569,967 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $44,212,000 after buying an additional 8,314 shares during the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Southern Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE SO opened at $88.49 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.91. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $84.91 and its 200-day moving average price is $77.87. The Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $61.56 and a fifty-two week high of $90.34. The company has a market cap of $96.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.87, a PEG ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.52.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.10 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $6.46 billion for 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%. Southern’s quarterly revenue was up 12.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.79 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 19th were issued a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 19th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.25%. Southern’s payout ratio is currently 74.42%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on SO. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Southern from $87.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Southern from $77.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Bank of America raised their price objective on Southern from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Southern from $83.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Southern from $80.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $83.71.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Southern news, EVP Sloane N. Drake sold 12,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 16,771 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,301,597.31. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Southern news, EVP Sloane N. Drake sold 12,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 16,771 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,301,597.31. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Anthony L. Wilson sold 6,900 shares of the 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 85,309 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,620,831.49. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 27,845 shares of company stock worth $2,266,455 in the last ninety days. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.