Carret Asset Management LLC Has $6.07 Million Stock Holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Carret Asset Management LLC cut its position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 0.2% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 73,724 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 152 shares during the quarter. Carret Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $6,069,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Alpine Woods Capital Investors LLC raised its holdings in Southern by 19.2% in the fourth quarter. Alpine Woods Capital Investors LLC now owns 49,187 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,049,000 after purchasing an additional 7,928 shares during the period. Integras Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Southern in the fourth quarter worth $496,000. JPL Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Southern in the fourth quarter worth $3,157,000. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC raised its holdings in Southern by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 1,058,825 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $87,162,000 after purchasing an additional 21,668 shares during the period. Finally, IAG Wealth Partners LLC raised its holdings in Southern by 31.3% in the fourth quarter. IAG Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,074 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $88,000 after purchasing an additional 256 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Guggenheim lowered shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Southern currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $90.54.

Southern Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of SO stock opened at $89.67 on Friday. 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 Southern Company has a 1 year low of $67.53 and a 1 year high of $94.45. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $85.71 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $87.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $98.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.36, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued 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 business had revenue of $6.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.90 billion. Southern had a net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 12.23%. On average, equities analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were paid 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 is presently 71.82%.

Insider Transactions at Southern

In related news, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of Southern stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,138,296. The trade was a 52.35 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of Southern stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.61, for a total transaction of $100,811.25. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 102,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,148,284.90. The trade was a 1.09 % 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 ninety days. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

About Southern

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.