Fiduciary Group LLC Trims Stock Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Fiduciary Group LLC cut its stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 3.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 99,467 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 3,067 shares during the quarter. Fiduciary Group LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $8,188,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of SO. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Southern during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $315,290,000. Synovus Financial Corp increased its holdings in Southern by 72.4% during the third quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 3,077,959 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $277,570,000 after buying an additional 1,293,072 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Southern by 4.6% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 24,521,339 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,203,386,000 after buying an additional 1,075,768 shares during the period. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH purchased a new position in Southern during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $51,605,000. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Southern by 44.8% during the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 1,504,693 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $123,866,000 after buying an additional 465,399 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Southern news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of Southern stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.12, for a total value of $2,997,532.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 106,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,946,985.28. The trade was a 23.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of Southern stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,236 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,138,296. The trade was a 52.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 47,855 shares of company stock valued at $4,348,784 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Southern Trading Down 0.6 %

NYSE:SO opened at $89.65 on Thursday. The Southern Company has a 12 month low of $67.53 and a 12 month high of $94.45. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $86.39 and a 200-day simple moving average of $87.22. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60. The company has a market capitalization of $98.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.36, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.51 by ($0.01). Southern had a return on equity of 12.23% and a net margin of 16.47%. The company had revenue of $6.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.90 billion. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th were issued a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.21%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 71.82%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on SO shares. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Guggenheim downgraded shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Southern presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $90.54.

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.