Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV Trims Stock Holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV decreased its position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 21.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,793 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 499 shares during the quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV’s holdings in Southern were worth $148,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Abel Hall LLC increased its stake in Southern by 1.8% in the third quarter. Abel Hall LLC now owns 6,830 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $616,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC now owns 3,011 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $272,000 after acquiring an additional 123 shares during the period. Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC boosted its position in shares of Southern by 15.9% in the fourth quarter. Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC now owns 895 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $74,000 after acquiring an additional 123 shares during the last quarter. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Southern by 8.0% in the third quarter. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC now owns 1,678 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $151,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the period. Finally, Arete Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Southern by 0.7% during the third quarter. Arete Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 18,209 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,637,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Southern Trading Up 0.5 %

SO opened at $90.01 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $86.53 and its 200-day moving average is $87.24. The Southern Company has a 52-week low of $67.53 and a 52-week high of $94.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $98.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.45, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.51 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $6.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.90 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.23% and a net margin of 16.47%. Analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.20%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 71.82%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Southern from $88.00 to $91.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Mizuho upped their price target on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Guggenheim downgraded shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $91.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.00, for a total value of $1,250,440.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 106,819 shares in the company, valued at $9,946,985.28. The trade was a 23.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 47,855 shares of company stock worth $4,348,784 in the last three months. 0.18% of the stock is owned by 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.