Waterloo Capital L.P. Trims Stock Holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Waterloo Capital L.P. lessened its position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 1.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 33,435 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 439 shares during the quarter. Waterloo Capital L.P.’s holdings in Southern were worth $2,752,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of SO. Syverson Strege & Co boosted its position in Southern by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Syverson Strege & Co now owns 4,264 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $351,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. Abel Hall LLC boosted its holdings in Southern by 1.8% during the third quarter. Abel Hall LLC now owns 6,830 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $616,000 after buying an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Providence Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in Southern by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Providence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 41,073 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,381,000 after buying an additional 120 shares during the period. Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC grew its position in Southern by 15.9% during the fourth quarter. Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC now owns 895 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $74,000 after buying an additional 123 shares during the period. Finally, Elevate Wealth Advisory Inc. increased its holdings in Southern by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Elevate Wealth Advisory Inc. now owns 6,200 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $510,000 after buying an additional 123 shares in the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In other news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $9,946,985.28. This represents a 23.16 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.00, for a total value of $1,250,440.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,236 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,138,296. The trade was a 52.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 47,855 shares of company stock worth $4,348,784 in the last ninety days. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Southern Trading Down 3.8 %

Shares of Southern stock opened at $89.07 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.66. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $88.14 and its 200-day simple moving average is $87.33. The stock has a market cap of $97.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.21, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46. The Southern Company has a 1-year low of $67.53 and a 1-year high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by ($0.01). Southern had a return on equity of 12.23% and a net margin of 16.47%. The company had revenue of $6.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.90 billion. Analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.23%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 71.82%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on SO shares. Scotiabank raised their target price on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Guggenheim downgraded Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Morgan Stanley reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Southern in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $91.46.

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.