Baldwin Investment Management LLC Trims Holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Baldwin Investment Management LLC reduced its holdings in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 3.2% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 12,069 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 401 shares during the period. Baldwin Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $1,088,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Cadence Bank boosted its position in shares of Southern by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Cadence Bank now owns 15,595 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,406,000 after purchasing an additional 430 shares in the last quarter. Principal Street Partners LLC purchased a new position in Southern during the third quarter valued at $290,000. Avestar Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Southern by 6.2% in the third quarter. Avestar Capital LLC now owns 5,706 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $515,000 after acquiring an additional 332 shares in the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group grew its stake in shares of Southern by 7.6% in the third quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 9,945 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $897,000 after acquiring an additional 703 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Truvestments Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Southern by 4.3% during the third quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC now owns 3,011 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $272,000 after acquiring an additional 123 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Southern Stock Up 1.0 %

SO stock opened at $89.33 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $89.70 and its two-hundred day moving average is $84.94. The company has a market cap of $97.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.77, a P/E/G ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 0.52. The Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $65.80 and a fifty-two week high of $94.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.91.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.10. Southern had a net margin of 17.87% and a return on equity of 12.78%. The company had revenue of $7.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.14 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.42 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be paid a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.22%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 66.98%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on SO shares. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Mizuho downgraded shares of Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $90.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Monday, September 16th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Scotiabank upped their price objective on Southern from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, 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, August 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $89.47.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

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.