Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC Sells 186 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC lowered its holdings in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 2.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 8,819 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 186 shares during the period. Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $726,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI boosted its stake in Southern by 55.8% during the fourth quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI now owns 9,423 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $777,000 after buying an additional 3,373 shares in the last quarter. Patten Group Inc. boosted its stake in Southern by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Patten Group Inc. now owns 7,106 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $585,000 after buying an additional 178 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Southern by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,599,710 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $543,288,000 after buying an additional 194,114 shares in the last quarter. WMG Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Southern by 298.9% during the fourth quarter. WMG Financial Advisors LLC now owns 14,915 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,228,000 after buying an additional 11,176 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Unified Investment Management acquired a new stake in Southern during the fourth quarter worth $219,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:SO opened at $88.64 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $97.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.10, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.53. The Southern Company has a 1-year low of $67.53 and a 1-year high of $94.45. 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 business has a 50-day moving average price of $84.79 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $86.95.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 earnings per share 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 the consensus estimate of $5.90 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.23% and a net margin of 16.47%. Equities analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

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 paid a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.25%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 71.82%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.61, for a total value of $100,811.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 102,090 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,148,284.90. The trade was a 1.09 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.00, for a total value of $1,250,440.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 13,236 shares of the company’s stock, 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.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on SO shares. Scotiabank boosted 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. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Mizuho boosted 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. Finally, Guggenheim downgraded shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Southern presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $90.54.

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.