The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Shares Sold by GLOBALT Investments LLC GA

GLOBALT Investments LLC GA lowered its position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 4.1% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 80,740 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 3,427 shares during the quarter. GLOBALT Investments LLC GA’s holdings in Southern were worth $7,281,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in SO. Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Southern by 1,361.6% during the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 3,201 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $229,000 after acquiring an additional 2,982 shares during the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. grew its position in shares of Southern by 2.1% in the first quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 25,641 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,839,000 after purchasing an additional 525 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd grew its position in shares of Southern by 276.2% in the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 2,005 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $144,000 after purchasing an additional 1,472 shares in the last quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. grew its position in shares of Southern by 55.7% in the first quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 13,548 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $972,000 after purchasing an additional 4,847 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. grew its position in shares of Southern by 1.4% in the first quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. now owns 52,045 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,734,000 after purchasing an additional 696 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SO has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Mizuho lowered Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $90.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Scotiabank upped their price target on Southern from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Southern from $77.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Wolfe Research lowered Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $89.27.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO James Y. Kerr II sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.64, for a total value of $2,689,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 145,088 shares in the company, valued at $13,005,688.32. The trade was a 17.13 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.54, for a total value of $587,830.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 44,467 shares in the company, valued at $3,981,575.18. This trade represents a 12.86 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Southern Trading Up 1.3 %

NYSE:SO opened at $87.93 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $96.34 billion, a PE ratio of 20.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 0.52. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $89.85 and a 200 day moving average price of $84.37. The Southern Company has a 12-month low of $65.80 and a 12-month high of $94.45. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $7.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.14 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.78% and a net margin of 17.87%. Southern’s revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.42 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 4.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th will be issued a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.28%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 66.98%.

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.