The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Shares Sold by Autumn Glory Partners LLC

Autumn Glory Partners LLC lowered its stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 51.9% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 8,185 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 8,823 shares during the quarter. Autumn Glory Partners LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $674,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in Southern in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Southern by 168.1% in the 3rd quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC now owns 311 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 195 shares during the last quarter. YANKCOM Partnership purchased a new position in shares of Southern in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. WFA Asset Management Corp increased its holdings in shares of Southern by 84.9% in the 4th quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 429 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 197 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Valley National Advisers Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Southern by 244.4% in the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 434 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 308 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Southern Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of SO stock opened at $85.72 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $83.36 and its two-hundred day moving average is $86.77. The Southern Company has a twelve month low of $65.80 and a twelve month high of $94.45. The company has a market capitalization of $93.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66.

Southern Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be paid a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.36%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 66.98%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on SO. Scotiabank increased their price objective on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Guggenheim downgraded Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Mizuho raised their price target on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Southern has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $89.79.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In other news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 88,393 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,592,958.70. This trade represents a 1.31 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.00, for a total value of $1,250,440.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,236 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,138,296. This represents a 52.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.