Thomasville National Bank Has $7.18 Million Stock Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Thomasville National Bank cut its holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 3.6% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 87,224 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 3,229 shares during the quarter. Thomasville National Bank’s holdings in Southern were worth $7,180,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Southern by 7.2% during the second quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 72,152 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,597,000 after purchasing an additional 4,847 shares in the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale raised its position in shares of Southern by 24.3% during the second quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 223,145 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $17,476,000 after acquiring an additional 43,681 shares during the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Southern by 3.2% during the second quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 9,853 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $764,000 after acquiring an additional 305 shares during the last quarter. Thoroughbred Financial Services LLC increased its holdings in Southern by 79.6% in the second quarter. Thoroughbred Financial Services LLC now owns 10,301 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $799,000 after purchasing an additional 4,565 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wealthspire Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Southern by 2.9% in the second quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC now owns 19,707 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,529,000 after purchasing an additional 563 shares in the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Southern news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.90, for a total value of $100,503.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 88,393 shares in the company, valued at $7,592,958.70. This represents a 1.31 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of SO traded down $0.36 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $80.96. The stock had a trading volume of 1,078,069 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,422,000. 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 Southern Company has a 52 week low of $65.80 and a 52 week high of $94.45. The firm has a market cap of $88.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.83, a PEG ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 0.52. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $85.22 and a 200-day moving average price of $86.13.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. Southern had a return on equity of 12.78% and a net margin of 17.87%. The company had revenue of $7.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.14 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.42 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.03 EPS for the current year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th were paid a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 18th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.56%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is currently 66.98%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on SO. Guggenheim lifted their target price on Southern from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on Southern in a report on Friday, September 20th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $94.00 target price for the company. Barclays lifted their target price on Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $90.14.

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.