Community Bank & Trust Waco Texas Reduces Holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Community Bank & Trust Waco Texas decreased its holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 0.2% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 66,229 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 159 shares during the quarter. Community Bank & Trust Waco Texas’ holdings in Southern were worth $5,452,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Ritholtz Wealth Management raised its stake in Southern by 22.2% during the 3rd quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 13,653 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,231,000 after acquiring an additional 2,476 shares during the period. Annex Advisory Services LLC bought a new stake in Southern during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $228,000. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA raised its stake in Southern by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA now owns 7,951 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $717,000 after acquiring an additional 247 shares during the period. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Southern by 17.2% during the 3rd quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. now owns 17,276 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,558,000 after acquiring an additional 2,532 shares during the period. Finally, Webster Bank N. A. raised its stake in Southern by 115.6% during the 3rd quarter. Webster Bank N. A. now owns 1,285 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $116,000 after acquiring an additional 689 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Guggenheim cut shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Southern presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $89.79.

Southern Trading Up 1.0 %

NYSE SO opened at $85.47 on Tuesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $83.37 and its 200-day moving average price is $86.71. 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 stock has a market cap of $93.64 billion, a PE ratio of 19.88, a PEG ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.53. The Southern Company has a 12 month low of $65.80 and a 12 month high of $94.45.

Southern Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be issued a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.37%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. Southern’s payout ratio is presently 66.98%.

Insider Transactions at Southern

In other Southern news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.90, for a total transaction of $100,503.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 88,393 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,592,958.70. This represents a 1.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.