Congress Wealth Management LLC DE Trims Holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Congress Wealth Management LLC DE lowered its stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 49.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 17,597 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 16,953 shares during the quarter. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE’s holdings in Southern were worth $1,449,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Crowley Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter worth $204,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Southern by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 102,790,453 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $8,461,710,000 after acquiring an additional 698,422 shares during the last quarter. Stevens Capital Management LP raised its holdings in shares of Southern by 124.9% in the 4th quarter. Stevens Capital Management LP now owns 5,572 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $459,000 after acquiring an additional 3,094 shares in the last quarter. Mosley Wealth Management boosted its position in shares of Southern by 13.1% during the 4th quarter. Mosley Wealth Management now owns 12,100 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,002,000 after acquiring an additional 1,404 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Marietta Investment Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter worth about $332,000. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Southern Trading Up 1.2 %

NYSE:SO opened at $90.12 on Friday. The Southern Company has a one year low of $67.53 and a one year high of $94.45. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $87.20 and its 200 day simple moving average is $87.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $98.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.47, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.66.

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

Southern Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th were paid a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. Southern’s payout ratio is 71.82%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Scotiabank lifted their target price on shares of Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Morgan Stanley restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Southern in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Mizuho upped 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. Finally, Guggenheim cut Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Southern currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $91.46.

Insider Activity at Southern

In related news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.61, for a total value of $100,811.25. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 102,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,148,284.90. This represents a 1.09 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of Southern 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,236 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,138,296. The trade was a 52.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 47,855 shares of company stock valued at $4,348,784. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Southern 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.