The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Shares Sold by Viawealth LLC

Viawealth LLC reduced its holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 10.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 10,163 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,156 shares during the quarter. Viawealth LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $837,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Southern by 4.6% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 24,521,339 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,203,386,000 after buying an additional 1,075,768 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Southern by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,599,710 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $543,288,000 after purchasing an additional 194,114 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter valued at $315,290,000. Synovus Financial Corp boosted its position in shares of Southern by 72.4% in the 3rd quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 3,077,959 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $277,570,000 after purchasing an additional 1,293,072 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi raised its holdings in Southern by 11.4% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 2,780,137 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $230,807,000 after buying an additional 284,022 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of Southern stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.12, for a total value of $2,997,532.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 106,819 shares in the company, valued at $9,946,985.28. This trade represents a 23.16 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,236 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,138,296. This represents a 52.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 47,855 shares of company stock valued at $4,348,784 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Southern Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE SO opened at $89.65 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $86.39 and a 200 day simple moving average of $87.22. The Southern Company has a 52 week low of $67.53 and a 52 week high of $94.45. The stock has a market cap of $98.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.36, a PEG 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.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted 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). The business had revenue of $6.34 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.90 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.23% and a net margin of 16.47%. On average, research analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The business 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 of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.21%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 71.82%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SO has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Guggenheim cut Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Scotiabank upped their price target on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $90.54.

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.