Checchi Capital Advisers LLC Lowers Stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Checchi Capital Advisers LLC lowered its stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO – Get Rating) by 10.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 12,633 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,530 shares during the quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $902,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in Southern by 6.2% in the third quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 63,002,360 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,284,352,000 after purchasing an additional 3,653,841 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Southern by 1.5% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 94,652,372 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $6,436,360,000 after acquiring an additional 1,391,612 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Southern by 2.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 65,068,549 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,424,661,000 after acquiring an additional 1,313,036 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its stake in shares of Southern by 57.3% during the third quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 3,062,100 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $208,223,000 after acquiring an additional 1,115,989 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its stake in shares of Southern by 70.3% during the third quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 2,037,010 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $138,517,000 after acquiring an additional 841,094 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 61.78% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on SO shares. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on shares of Southern from $79.00 to $78.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 2nd. 1-800-FLOWERS.COM restated a “maintains” rating on shares of Southern in a report on Friday, April 28th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Southern from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 20th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Southern from $73.00 to $71.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 17th. Finally, Mizuho cut their price objective on shares of Southern from $77.00 to $76.00 in a report on Tuesday, May 16th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $73.07.

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of SO stock traded down $0.37 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $69.45. 673,079 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,154,833. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a current ratio of 0.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $75.73 billion, a PE ratio of 22.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.91 and a beta of 0.51. The Southern Company has a 12 month low of $58.85 and a 12 month high of $80.57. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $71.58 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $68.97.

Southern (NYSE:SO – Get Rating) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 27th. The utilities provider reported $0.79 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.71 by $0.08. Southern had a return on equity of 10.78% and a net margin of 11.53%. The company had revenue of $6.48 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.14 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.97 earnings per share. Southern’s quarterly revenue was down 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 3.61 EPS for the current year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. This is a boost from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 12th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.03%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is currently 90.32%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Thomas A. Fanning sold 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.16, for a total transaction of $3,758,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 847,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $63,705,014.72. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, CEO Thomas A. Fanning sold 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.16, for a total value of $3,758,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 847,592 shares in the company, valued at $63,705,014.72. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 27,426 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.11, for a total value of $2,059,966.86. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 36,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,712,898.09. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 91,917 shares of company stock valued at $6,889,527. 0.28% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Southern Profile

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The Southern Co is a holding company, which engages in the generation and sale of electricity. It operates through the following segments: Traditional Electric Operating Companies, Southern Power and Southern Company Gas. The Traditional Electric Operating Companies segment refers to vertically integrated utilities that own generation, transmission and distribution facilities, and supplies electric services in the states of Alabama, Georgia, Florida, and Mississippi.