Evoke Wealth LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Evoke Wealth LLC reduced its stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 5.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,499 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 141 shares during the quarter. Evoke Wealth LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $206,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in Southern during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. YANKCOM Partnership acquired a new position in shares of Southern in the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. WFA Asset Management Corp grew its position in shares of Southern by 84.9% in the 4th quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 429 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 197 shares in the last quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. grew its position in shares of Southern by 244.4% in the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 434 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 308 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Southern in the 4th quarter worth approximately $35,000. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SO has been the subject of several research reports. Scotiabank lifted their target price on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Guggenheim lowered Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price objective on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. One research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Southern has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $90.54.

Southern Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of Southern stock opened at $89.65 on Thursday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $86.39 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $87.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.66. The company has a market capitalization of $98.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.36, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46. The Southern Company has a 1-year low of $67.53 and a 1-year high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by ($0.01). Southern had a return on equity of 12.23% and a net margin of 16.47%. The firm had revenue of $6.34 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.90 billion. As a group, research analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were given a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.21%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 71.82%.

Insider Transactions at Southern

In other news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.61, for a total transaction of $100,811.25. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 102,090 shares in the company, valued at $9,148,284.90. The trade was a 1.09 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was 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 represents a 52.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 47,855 shares of company stock valued at $4,348,784 over the last three months. Company 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.