Capital Investment Advisory Services LLC Sells 449 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Capital Investment Advisory Services LLC cut its position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 2.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 20,415 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 449 shares during the period. Capital Investment Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $1,681,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in SO. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new position in Southern in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 168.1% during the third quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC now owns 311 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 195 shares in the last quarter. West Branch Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Southern by 34.7% during the third quarter. West Branch Capital LLC now owns 501 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 129 shares during the last quarter. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new stake in Southern in the 3rd quarter worth about $49,000. Finally, Quarry LP purchased a new position in Southern in the 3rd quarter worth about $49,000. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.90, for a total transaction of $100,503.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 88,393 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,592,958.70. This represents a 1.31 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SO has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Guggenheim downgraded Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $90.14.

Southern Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of SO stock opened at $82.88 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.66. The Southern Company has a one year low of $65.80 and a one year high of $94.45. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $84.15 and its 200-day moving average price is $86.57. The company has a market capitalization of $90.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.27, a PEG ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.52.

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

Southern Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 66.98%.

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.