Personal CFO Solutions LLC Trims Stock Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Personal CFO Solutions LLC lessened its holdings in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 3.9% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 13,827 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 563 shares during the quarter. Personal CFO Solutions LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $1,138,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Amundi grew its position in Southern by 11.4% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 2,780,137 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $230,807,000 after buying an additional 284,022 shares during the period. Naviter Wealth LLC grew its position in Southern by 21.8% during the fourth quarter. Naviter Wealth LLC now owns 29,820 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,455,000 after buying an additional 5,337 shares during the period. Lifeworks Advisors LLC grew its position in Southern by 1,057.6% during the fourth quarter. Lifeworks Advisors LLC now owns 64,326 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,295,000 after buying an additional 58,769 shares during the period. Larson Financial Group LLC grew its position in Southern by 29.5% during the fourth quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 10,194 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $839,000 after buying an additional 2,323 shares during the period. Finally, Generali Investments CEE investicni spolecnost a.s. acquired a new stake in Southern during the fourth quarter valued at $1,350,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In other news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of Southern stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.61, for a total transaction of $100,811.25. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 102,090 shares in the company, valued at $9,148,284.90. The trade was a 1.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of Southern stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.00, for a total transaction of $1,250,440.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 13,236 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,138,296. This trade represents a 52.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on SO. Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Guggenheim lowered shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Scotiabank lifted their target price on shares of Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $90.54.

Southern Stock Up 3.2 %

SO stock opened at $91.54 on Friday. The Southern Company has a one year low of $67.53 and a one year high of $94.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $100.40 billion, a PE ratio of 22.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.67. The company has a fifty day moving average of $85.07 and a 200-day moving average of $87.00.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.51 by ($0.01). Southern had a return on equity of 12.23% and a net margin of 16.47%. The firm had revenue of $6.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.90 billion. As a group, analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were issued a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.15%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 71.82%.

Southern 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.