Capital Wealth Planning LLC Reduces Stock Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Capital Wealth Planning LLC lessened its holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 33.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 5,879 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 2,993 shares during the quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $484,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC purchased a new position in Southern in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. YANKCOM Partnership purchased a new position in Southern in the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Southern by 168.1% in the third quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC now owns 311 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 195 shares during the last quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp increased its holdings in Southern by 84.9% in the fourth quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 429 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 197 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Valley National Advisers Inc. increased its holdings 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 buying an additional 308 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Mizuho raised their price objective on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Guggenheim lowered Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price objective on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $90.54.

Southern Stock Performance

NYSE SO opened at $89.77 on Friday. 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 $65.99 and a 52-week high of $94.45. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $84.39 and its 200 day moving average price is $86.90. The firm has a market cap of $98.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.39, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.53.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced 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). The firm had revenue of $6.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.90 billion. Southern had a net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 12.23%. On average, equities research analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be given a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.21%. Southern’s payout ratio is currently 71.82%.

Insider Activity at Southern

In other news, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.00, for a total transaction 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of the business’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 value of $100,503.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 88,393 shares in the company, valued at $7,592,958.70. This trade represents a 1.31 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.