The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Shares Sold by Corient Private Wealth LLC

Corient Private Wealth LLC decreased its position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 10.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 250,083 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 29,017 shares during the quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $20,381,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SO. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Southern in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $315,290,000. Synovus Financial Corp grew its position in shares of Southern by 72.4% during the third quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 3,077,959 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $277,570,000 after acquiring an additional 1,293,072 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Southern by 4.6% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 24,521,339 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,203,386,000 after acquiring an additional 1,075,768 shares during the last quarter. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH purchased a new position in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter worth approximately $51,605,000. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Southern by 44.8% during the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 1,504,693 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $123,866,000 after acquiring an additional 465,399 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Southern Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of Southern stock opened at $90.22 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60. The firm has a market cap of $98.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $86.26 and a 200-day simple moving average of $87.21. The Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $67.53 and a fifty-two week high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.51 by ($0.01). Southern had a net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 12.23%. The firm had revenue of $6.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.90 billion. On average, equities analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th were paid a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is currently 71.82%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.00, for a total transaction of $1,250,440.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 13,236 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,138,296. This represents a 52.35 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.61, for a total value of $100,811.25. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 102,090 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,148,284.90. This represents a 1.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 47,855 shares of company stock valued at $4,348,784. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on SO shares. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on shares of Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Guggenheim downgraded Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Mizuho raised their target price on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Southern currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $90.54.

About Southern

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.