Fee Only Financial Planning L.C. Has $510,000 Holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Fee Only Financial Planning L.C. cut its stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 8.1% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,650 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 500 shares during the period. Southern accounts for about 0.3% of Fee Only Financial Planning L.C.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 26th biggest position. Fee Only Financial Planning L.C.’s holdings in Southern were worth $510,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of SO. Vista Capital Partners Inc. grew its holdings in Southern by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Vista Capital Partners Inc. now owns 8,743 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $678,000 after acquiring an additional 118 shares during the period. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. raised its holdings in Southern by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. now owns 3,246 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $293,000 after buying an additional 119 shares during the period. DT Investment Partners LLC lifted its stake in Southern by 5.8% in the third quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC now owns 2,201 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $198,000 after buying an additional 121 shares in the last quarter. Modera Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Southern by 1.4% in the second quarter. Modera Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,048 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $702,000 after buying an additional 124 shares during the period. Finally, Red Door Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Southern by 0.9% during the second quarter. Red Door Wealth Management LLC now owns 13,926 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,080,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on SO shares. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Bank of America increased their price objective on Southern from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Scotiabank boosted their target price on Southern from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Mizuho cut shares of Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $90.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Southern from $80.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Southern currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $89.27.

Southern Trading Up 2.0 %

SO stock opened at $88.64 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $97.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.15 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $89.93 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $83.75. The Southern Company has a one year low of $65.80 and a one year high of $94.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.66.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $7.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.14 billion. Southern had a net margin of 17.87% and a return on equity of 12.78%. The business’s revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.42 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 4.04 EPS for the current year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th will be paid a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.25%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 66.98%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Southern news, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.54, for a total transaction of $587,830.10. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 44,467 shares in the company, valued at $3,981,575.18. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, CEO James Y. Kerr II sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.64, for a total transaction of $2,689,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 145,088 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,005,688.32. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.54, for a total transaction of $587,830.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 44,467 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,981,575.18. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate 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.