Snowden Capital Advisors LLC Sells 9,804 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Snowden Capital Advisors LLC lowered its stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 38.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 15,652 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 9,804 shares during the period. Snowden Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $1,289,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Syverson Strege & Co increased 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 in the last quarter. Providence Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake 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 worth $3,381,000 after buying an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Coastal Bridge Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Southern by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Coastal Bridge Advisors LLC now owns 32,508 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,676,000 after buying an additional 122 shares during the last quarter. Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC increased its position in shares of Southern by 15.9% during the fourth quarter. Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC now owns 895 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $74,000 after acquiring an additional 123 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Elevate Wealth Advisory Inc. raised its holdings in Southern by 2.0% in the 4th 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 last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Southern Price Performance

NYSE SO opened at $88.72 on Monday. The Southern Company has a 12 month low of $76.64 and a 12 month high of $94.45. The stock has a market cap of $97.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.12, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.40. The company’s 50 day moving average is $89.90 and its two-hundred day moving average is $87.13. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60.

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

Southern Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be given a dividend of $0.74 per share. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.34%. This is a boost from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 70.64%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Evercore ISI upped their price target on Southern from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. KeyCorp downgraded shares of Southern from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $78.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $92.21.

Insider Activity

In other Southern news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of Southern 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 106,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,946,985.28. The trade was a 23.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of Southern stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.61, for a total transaction of $100,811.25. Following the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Southern Company 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.