First National Corp MA ADV Sells 134 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

First National Corp MA ADV reduced its position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 1.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,704 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 134 shares during the quarter. First National Corp MA ADV’s holdings in Southern were worth $800,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Constitution Capital LLC raised its holdings in Southern by 16.0% during the 1st quarter. Constitution Capital LLC now owns 13,020 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,197,000 after buying an additional 1,800 shares during the last quarter. AGH Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Southern during the 1st quarter valued at $206,000. Curat Global LLC purchased a new position in Southern during the 1st quarter valued at $49,000. Foster Group Inc. purchased a new position in Southern during the 1st quarter valued at $236,000. Finally, Vest Financial LLC increased its position in Southern by 73.5% during the 1st quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 26,838 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,468,000 after purchasing an additional 11,368 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Southern Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of Southern stock opened at $88.26 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 company has a 50-day moving average of $89.70 and a 200 day moving average of $87.29. The firm has a market cap of $97.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.01, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.38. The Southern Company has a 1 year low of $76.96 and a 1 year high of $94.45.

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

Southern Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th were given a dividend of $0.74 per share. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.35%. This is an increase from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is 70.64%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on SO shares. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Southern from $95.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Southern from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Southern from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $102.00 to $100.00 in a research report on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $92.64.

Insider Activity at Southern

In related news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 approximately $9,946,985.28. This represents a 23.16% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.16% of the stock is currently 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.