Aberdeen Wealth Management LLC Sells 296 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Aberdeen Wealth Management LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 9,938 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 296 shares during the quarter. Aberdeen Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $896,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Southern by 1,361.6% during the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 3,201 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $229,000 after acquiring an additional 2,982 shares in the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. raised its position in Southern by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 25,641 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,839,000 after purchasing an additional 525 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 276.2% in the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 2,005 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $144,000 after buying an additional 1,472 shares during the period. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. grew its position in shares of Southern by 55.7% during the 1st quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 13,548 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $972,000 after buying an additional 4,847 shares in the last quarter. Finally, O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Southern by 15.7% during the first quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 118,706 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $8,516,000 after buying an additional 16,116 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on SO shares. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Southern in a research note on Friday, September 20th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $94.00 price objective for the company. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on shares of Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Southern from $78.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Barclays lifted their price target on Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Southern from $77.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Southern currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $89.27.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In other news, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.54, for a total transaction of $587,830.10. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,467 shares in the company, valued at $3,981,575.18. This trade represents a 12.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO James Y. Kerr II sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.64, for a total value of $2,689,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 145,088 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,005,688.32. This trade represents a 17.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Southern Price Performance

SO stock opened at $88.05 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $96.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.48, a PEG ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 0.52. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $89.82 and a 200-day simple moving average of $84.46. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66. The Southern Company has a twelve month low of $65.80 and a twelve month high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $7.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.14 billion. Southern had a net margin of 17.87% and a return on equity of 12.78%. The business’s revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.42 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 4.04 EPS for the current year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th will be issued a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.27%. Southern’s payout ratio is 66.98%.

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.