The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Shares Sold by Oppenheimer & Co. Inc.

Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. decreased its holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 0.8% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 69,608 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 591 shares during the quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $5,730,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of SO. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new position in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. YANKCOM Partnership acquired a new position in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake 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 worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 195 shares in the last quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp grew its stake in shares of Southern by 84.9% during the fourth quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 429 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Valley National Advisers Inc. grew its stake in shares of Southern by 244.4% during the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 434 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 308 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Southern Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:SO opened at $89.77 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $84.39 and a 200-day simple moving average of $86.90. The Southern Company has a one year low of $65.99 and a one year high of $94.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $98.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.39, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.53.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $6.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.90 billion. Southern had a net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 12.23%. On average, analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.21%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is currently 71.82%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SO has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on shares of Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Guggenheim downgraded shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Scotiabank boosted their price target on shares of Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Southern currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $90.54.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.90, for a total value of $100,503.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 88,393 shares in the company, valued at $7,592,958.70. This represents a 1.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.00, for a total transaction of $1,250,440.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 13,236 shares in the company, valued at $1,138,296. This represents a 52.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.