The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Shares Sold by Procyon Advisors LLC

Procyon Advisors LLC reduced its holdings in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 7.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,849 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 792 shares during the quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $906,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in SO. Vest Financial LLC increased its holdings in Southern by 42.6% in the 4th quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 15,470 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,273,000 after purchasing an additional 4,625 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Southern by 56.6% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,547 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $292,000 after buying an additional 1,282 shares in the last quarter. Values First Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Southern by 83.7% during the 4th quarter. Values First Advisors Inc. now owns 6,646 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $547,000 after buying an additional 3,029 shares during the period. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Southern by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 398,624 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $32,815,000 after acquiring an additional 15,923 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Platform Technology Partners boosted its holdings in Southern by 8.7% in the 4th quarter. Platform Technology Partners now owns 3,727 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $307,000 after acquiring an additional 299 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on SO. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Southern from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $102.00 to $100.00 in a research note on Thursday. Guggenheim reaffirmed 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 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Southern from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $94.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Southern has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $92.64.

Insider Activity

In other news, 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 106,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,946,985.28. The trade was a 23.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Southern Price Performance

Shares of SO opened at $88.26 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60. 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 52 week low of $76.96 and a 52 week high of $94.45. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $89.70 and a 200-day moving average of $87.28.

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

Southern Increases Dividend

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

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.