Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky Sells 4,933 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky trimmed its holdings in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 5.7% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 81,196 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 4,933 shares during the period. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky’s holdings in Southern were worth $7,322,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in Southern by 168.1% in the third quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC now owns 311 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 195 shares during the last quarter. West Branch Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Southern by 34.7% during the 3rd quarter. West Branch Capital LLC now owns 501 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $45,000 after acquiring an additional 129 shares during the period. Quarry LP bought a new position in shares of Southern during the 3rd quarter worth $49,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new stake in Southern in the 3rd quarter worth about $49,000. Finally, Activest Wealth Management bought a new stake in Southern in the 3rd quarter valued at about $54,000. 64.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Southern news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of Southern stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.90, for a total value of $100,503.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 88,393 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,592,958.70. The trade was a 1.31 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on SO shares. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Southern in a report on Friday, September 20th. They set a “hold” rating and a $94.00 target price on the stock. Scotiabank raised their target price on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Guggenheim upped their target price on shares of Southern from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $90.14.

Southern Stock Up 0.1 %

SO opened at $83.37 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $88.95 and its 200 day simple moving average is $85.48. The Southern Company has a 52 week low of $65.80 and a 52 week high of $94.45. The stock has a market cap of $91.35 billion, a PE ratio of 19.39, a P/E/G ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 0.51.

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

Southern Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 18th were issued a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 18th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.45%. 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.