RFG Advisory LLC Sells 11,515 Shares of Southern Company (The) $SO

RFG Advisory LLC cut its position in shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 9.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 106,868 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 11,515 shares during the quarter. RFG Advisory LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $10,315,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ankerstar Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southern in the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Triumph Capital Management acquired a new stake in shares of Southern during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Cornerstone Financial Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp bought a new stake in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Finally, Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on SO. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $104.00 target price on shares of Southern in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Southern from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. KeyCorp raised shares of Southern from an “underweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $99.00 target price on shares of Southern in a research report on Monday. Finally, Truist Financial lowered their target price on shares of Southern from $103.00 to $100.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Southern currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $99.26.

Southern Price Performance

Shares of SO stock opened at $95.77 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $93.44 and its 200 day simple moving average is $92.23. Southern Company has a one year low of $83.80 and a one year high of $100.83. The firm has a market cap of $107.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The utilities provider reported $1.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.21 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $8.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.07 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.64% and a net margin of 14.46%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.23 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Southern Company will post 4.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 8th. Investors of record on Monday, May 18th were given a dividend of $0.76 per share. This is an increase from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 18th. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.2%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is 77.35%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 25,000 shares of Southern stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.67, for a total transaction of $2,416,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 103,602 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,015,205.34. This trade represents a 19.44% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.16% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Southern Profile

Southern Company (NYSE: SO) is an Atlanta-based energy holding company that provides electric and gas utility services and owns power generation assets across the United States. Founded in 1945, the company operates a portfolio of regulated electric utilities and affiliated businesses that generate, transmit and distribute electricity to residential, commercial and industrial customers.

Southern’s principal regulated electric subsidiaries include Georgia Power, Alabama Power and Mississippi Power, which serve large portions of the southeastern United States.