Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC lessened its position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 31.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 370 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 171 shares during the quarter. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $30,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Syverson Strege & Co raised its holdings in shares of Southern by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Syverson Strege & Co now owns 4,264 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $351,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares during the last quarter. Providence Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Southern by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Providence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 41,073 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,381,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Coastal Bridge Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Southern by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Coastal Bridge Advisors LLC now owns 32,508 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,676,000 after purchasing an additional 122 shares in the last quarter. Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC grew its position in Southern by 15.9% in the fourth quarter. Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC now owns 895 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $74,000 after acquiring an additional 123 shares during the period. Finally, Elevate Wealth Advisory Inc. grew its position in Southern by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Elevate Wealth Advisory Inc. now owns 6,200 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $510,000 after acquiring an additional 123 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Southern Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:SO opened at $88.72 on Friday. 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 Southern Company has a 12 month low of $76.64 and a 12 month high of $94.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $97.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.40. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $89.90 and its 200-day simple moving average is $87.18.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.03. Southern had a return on equity of 12.23% and a net margin of 16.47%. The firm had revenue of $7.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.17 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.03 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be issued a $0.74 dividend. This is an increase from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.34%. Southern’s payout ratio is 70.64%.

Insider Buying and Selling 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 102,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,148,284.90. The trade was a 1.09% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.12, for a total transaction of $2,997,532.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly 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. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SO has been the subject of several analyst reports. UBS Group increased their price objective on 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 note on Thursday, March 20th. Guggenheim restated a “neutral” rating and set a $93.00 price target on shares of Southern in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Southern from $95.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Southern from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $94.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Southern currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $92.21.

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.