Bank & Trust Co Sells 377 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Bank & Trust Co lessened its position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 2.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 14,573 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 377 shares during the period. Southern makes up about 1.0% of Bank & Trust Co’s portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest holding. Bank & Trust Co’s holdings in Southern were worth $1,200,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in SO. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Southern by 4.6% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 24,521,339 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,203,386,000 after buying an additional 1,075,768 shares during the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC raised its holdings in Southern by 17,272.6% in the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 14,647,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,320,866,000 after buying an additional 14,562,689 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Southern by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,405,596 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $577,657,000 after buying an additional 52,414 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 0.5% during the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 3,245,500 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $292,679,000 after purchasing an additional 15,300 shares during the period. Finally, Synovus Financial Corp increased its holdings in Southern by 72.4% in the third quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 3,077,959 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $277,570,000 after purchasing an additional 1,293,072 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have commented on SO shares. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Mizuho downgraded Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $90.00 price target for the company. in a report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Southern in a research note on Friday, September 20th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $94.00 price objective on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $90.14.

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of Southern stock traded up $0.19 on Tuesday, reaching $81.15. 1,566,927 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,541,505. The company has a 50 day moving average of $85.83 and a 200 day moving average of $86.03. The Southern Company has a 52 week low of $65.80 and a 52 week high of $94.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $88.91 billion, a PE ratio of 18.87, a PEG ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.66.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.10. Southern had a net margin of 17.87% and a return on equity of 12.78%. The company had revenue of $7.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.14 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.42 earnings per share. Southern’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th were paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 18th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 66.98%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.90, for a total transaction of $100,503.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 88,393 shares in the company, valued at $7,592,958.70. This represents a 1.31 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Southern 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.