The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Holdings Cut by OLD Second National Bank of Aurora

OLD Second National Bank of Aurora lowered its holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 19.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,780 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 691 shares during the period. OLD Second National Bank of Aurora’s holdings in Southern were worth $229,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Southern by 168.1% during the third quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC now owns 311 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 195 shares during the last quarter. West Branch Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Southern by 34.7% during the third quarter. West Branch Capital LLC now owns 501 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 129 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP bought a new stake in shares of Southern during the third quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Finally, Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southern during the third quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Guggenheim lowered shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Southern has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $90.14.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.90, for a total value of $100,503.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 88,393 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,592,958.70. This represents a 1.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Southern Trading Down 0.8 %

Southern stock opened at $82.88 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $84.15 and a 200 day moving average price of $86.57. The Southern Company has a 52 week low of $65.80 and a 52 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. The firm has a market capitalization of $90.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.27, a P/E/G ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.52.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 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 firm had revenue of $7.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.14 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.42 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.04 EPS for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.48%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is currently 66.98%.

Southern Company 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.