OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC Sells 813 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC lessened its position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 1.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 41,731 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 813 shares during the period. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $3,435,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in SO. Financial Enhancement Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter worth about $326,000. Verity & Verity LLC lifted its stake in Southern by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Verity & Verity LLC now owns 201,971 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $16,626,000 after purchasing an additional 5,434 shares during the last quarter. Farmers Trust Co. grew its stake in shares of Southern by 31.6% during the 4th quarter. Farmers Trust Co. now owns 48,383 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,983,000 after acquiring an additional 11,605 shares during the period. Czech National Bank lifted its stake in shares of Southern by 6.7% during the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 237,566 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $19,556,000 after buying an additional 14,824 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC increased its position in shares of Southern by 60.7% during the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 23,813 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,147,000 after buying an additional 8,996 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Southern news, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of Southern stock in a transaction that occurred 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 $1,138,296. The trade was a 52.35 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.12, for a total value of $2,997,532.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 106,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,946,985.28. This represents a 23.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 47,855 shares of company stock worth $4,348,784 in the last three months. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SO has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays lifted their price target on Southern from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Southern in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Mizuho upped their price target on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Guggenheim downgraded Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $92.54.

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of SO opened at $91.85 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60. The Southern Company has a 52 week low of $72.11 and a 52 week high of $94.45. The stock has a market cap of $101.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.91, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.39. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $89.48 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $87.30.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $6.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.90 billion. On average, analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.74 per share. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.22%. This is an increase from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 71.82%.

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.