Morris Financial Concepts Inc. Sells 210 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Morris Financial Concepts Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 6.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 3,219 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 210 shares during the quarter. Morris Financial Concepts Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $231,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Southern by 0.4% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 99,572,665 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $6,444,343,000 after acquiring an additional 352,023 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its position in Southern by 53.2% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 16,444,163 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,153,065,000 after purchasing an additional 5,707,845 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in shares of Southern by 3.7% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 9,811,307 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $634,988,000 after buying an additional 349,122 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Southern in the 4th quarter valued at $631,068,000. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its position in Southern by 38.5% during the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,547,188 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $488,461,000 after acquiring an additional 2,096,988 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Southern Trading Down 0.7 %

NYSE SO traded down $0.57 on Monday, hitting $77.00. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,935,697 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,644,999. The firm has a market cap of $84.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.90, a PEG ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.51. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $77.58 and its 200 day simple moving average is $72.27. The Southern Company has a 52-week low of $61.56 and a 52-week high of $80.84. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The utilities provider reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $6.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.59 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.07% and a net margin of 16.74%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.79 EPS. Research analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 20th were paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. This is a positive change from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 17th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 74.42%.

Insider Transactions at Southern

In other Southern news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 9,126 shares of Southern stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.04, for a total value of $684,815.04. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 121,504 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,117,660.16. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on SO shares. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Southern from $74.00 to $71.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 24th. Argus upped their price target on Southern from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 15th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $76.00 price objective (up from $72.00) on shares of Southern in a research note on Monday, April 1st. UBS Group downgraded shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $78.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Scotiabank dropped their target price on shares of Southern from $80.00 to $77.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $76.14.

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.