The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Shares Sold by Your Advocates Ltd. LLP

Your Advocates Ltd. LLP trimmed its stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 35.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 325 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 175 shares during the quarter. Your Advocates Ltd. LLP’s holdings in Southern were worth $27,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in SO. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new position in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. YANKCOM Partnership acquired a new position in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Southern by 168.1% in the third quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC now owns 311 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 195 shares during the last quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp raised its holdings in shares of Southern by 84.9% in the fourth quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 429 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 197 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Valley National Advisers Inc. increased its stake in Southern by 244.4% in the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 434 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 308 shares during the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently commented on SO shares. Guggenheim lowered Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Scotiabank upped their target price on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Mizuho upped their target price on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $90.54.

Southern Price Performance

SO stock opened at $88.46 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.67. The Southern Company has a 1 year low of $65.99 and a 1 year high of $94.45. The firm has a market cap of $96.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.53. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $83.70 and a 200-day simple moving average of $86.82.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by ($0.01). Southern had a net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 12.23%. The company had revenue of $6.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.90 billion. On average, equities analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.26%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 71.82%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In other Southern news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was 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 owns 88,393 shares in the company, valued at $7,592,958.70. This trade represents a 1.31 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the firm’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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 13,236 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,138,296. This trade represents a 52.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.