First County Bank CT Sells 2,487 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

First County Bank CT trimmed its holdings in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 15.2% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 13,894 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 2,487 shares during the quarter. First County Bank CT’s holdings in Southern were worth $1,278,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Southern by 0.7% during 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 period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Southern by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 25,050,209 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,056,441,000 after purchasing an additional 528,870 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of Southern by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 10,805,269 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $889,490,000 after purchasing an additional 460,594 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter valued at $848,019,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Southern by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,599,710 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $543,288,000 after buying an additional 194,114 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Southern

In other Southern news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The stock was 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 owns 106,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,946,985.28. This trade represents a 23.16% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of Southern stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.61, for a total value of $100,811.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 102,090 shares in the company, valued at $9,148,284.90. This represents a 1.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Mizuho raised their price target on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Southern from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $94.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Southern in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, KeyCorp cut Southern from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $78.00 price target for the company. in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Southern has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $92.21.

Southern Stock Performance

SO stock opened at $88.65 on Friday. The Southern Company has a twelve month low of $76.87 and a twelve month high of $94.45. The firm has a market cap of $97.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.11, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.40. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $89.85 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $87.23. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.23 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.03. Southern had a net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 12.23%. The business 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 earned $1.03 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced 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 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 is currently 70.64%.

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.