Prosperity Financial Group Inc. Cuts Stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Prosperity Financial Group Inc. lessened its stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 3.5% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 6,434 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 232 shares during the quarter. Prosperity Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $580,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Southern by 1,361.6% during the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 3,201 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $229,000 after buying an additional 2,982 shares in the last quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd acquired a new position in Southern during the 1st quarter worth $1,168,000. 1832 Asset Management L.P. increased its position in shares of Southern by 11.9% in the 1st quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 30,938 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,219,000 after purchasing an additional 3,293 shares during the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Southern by 2.8% in the 1st quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 14,126 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,013,000 after purchasing an additional 380 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Southern by 422.2% during the first quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 40,501 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,906,000 after purchasing an additional 32,745 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on SO shares. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Southern from $83.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Wolfe Research lowered Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Guggenheim raised their price target on shares of Southern from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $89.47.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Southern news, CEO James Y. Kerr II sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.64, for a total value of $2,689,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 145,088 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,005,688.32. The trade was a 17.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 12.86 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Southern Price Performance

NYSE SO opened at $87.60 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66. The Southern Company has a 1 year low of $65.80 and a 1 year high of $94.45. The company has a market cap of $95.98 billion, a PE ratio of 20.37, a PEG ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 0.52. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $89.73 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $84.79.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.10. Southern had a net margin of 17.87% and a return on equity of 12.78%. The firm had revenue of $7.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.14 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.42 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4.03 EPS for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is currently 66.98%.

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.