The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Position Cut by Appleton Partners Inc. MA

Appleton Partners Inc. MA trimmed its holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 23.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,356 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,300 shares during the quarter. Appleton Partners Inc. MA’s holdings in Southern were worth $312,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in SO. Rockline Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter worth $1,945,000. Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter valued at $16,067,000. Angeles Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 13.3% in the fourth quarter. Angeles Investment Advisors LLC now owns 5,202 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $365,000 after purchasing an additional 612 shares in the last quarter. Savant Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 65,937 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,624,000 after purchasing an additional 2,691 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zullo Investment Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. Zullo Investment Group Inc. now owns 3,437 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $241,000 after purchasing an additional 157 shares in the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 9,126 shares of Southern stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.04, for a total transaction of $684,815.04. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 121,504 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,117,660.16. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $80.00 target price on shares of Southern in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Southern from $72.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Mizuho increased their price objective on Southern from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Southern from $67.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 28th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on Southern from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $76.36.

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:SO traded up $0.22 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $77.90. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 742,787 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,657,224. The stock has a market capitalization of $85.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.07, a PEG ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.51. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $76.04 and its 200 day simple moving average is $71.85. The Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $61.56 and a fifty-two week high of $80.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.92.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The utilities provider reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $6.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.59 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.07% and a net margin of 16.74%. The firm’s revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.79 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 3.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 20th were given a $0.72 dividend. This is an increase from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.70%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 17th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 74.42%.

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.