Verity Asset Management Inc. Sells 9,723 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Verity Asset Management Inc. lowered its position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 51.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 9,105 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 9,723 shares during the period. Verity Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $750,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of SO. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in Southern by 168.1% during the third quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC now owns 311 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 195 shares in the last quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp grew its holdings in Southern by 84.9% during the fourth quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 429 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares during the period. Valley National Advisers Inc. increased its position in Southern by 244.4% in the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 434 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 308 shares in the last quarter. Finally, West Branch Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Southern by 34.7% in the third quarter. West Branch Capital LLC now owns 501 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $45,000 after buying an additional 129 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SO has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Barclays boosted their price objective on Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Guggenheim lowered shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. BMO Capital Markets decreased 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. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price target on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Southern currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $89.79.

Southern Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of SO opened at $84.03 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $92.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.53. The Southern Company has a 1 year low of $65.80 and a 1 year high of $94.45. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $83.92 and its 200-day simple moving average is $86.64.

Southern Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.43%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. Southern’s payout ratio is 66.98%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Southern news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of Southern stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 88,393 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,592,958.70. The trade was a 1.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate 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.