Procyon Advisors LLC Lowers Stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Procyon Advisors LLC reduced its position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 2.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 16,507 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 354 shares during the quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $1,157,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter worth approximately $435,979,000. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Southern during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $369,131,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 38.5% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,547,188 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $488,461,000 after buying an additional 2,096,988 shares in the last quarter. Imprint Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 5,840.2% in the second quarter. Imprint Wealth LLC now owns 1,949,392 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $194,939,000 after buying an additional 1,916,575 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC increased its position in Southern by 5.0% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 38,906,760 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,518,045,000 after purchasing an additional 1,838,857 shares during the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SO has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Southern from $75.00 to $72.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Southern from $68.00 to $67.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 17th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on shares of Southern from $75.00 to $72.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 16th. Citigroup started coverage on shares of Southern in a research note on Friday, December 8th. They set a “buy” rating and a $82.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $80.00 target price on shares of Southern in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $73.46.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Southern news, EVP Christopher Cummiskey sold 899 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.06, for a total value of $60,286.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 22,502 shares in the company, valued at $1,508,984.12. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Stephen E. Kuczynski sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.99, for a total value of $359,950.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 101,284 shares in the company, valued at $7,291,435.16. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Christopher Cummiskey sold 899 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.06, for a total value of $60,286.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 22,502 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,508,984.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 25,998 shares of company stock valued at $1,806,063 over the last three months. 0.28% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Southern Stock Up 0.1 %

SO traded up $0.10 on Thursday, reaching $71.15. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 530,959 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,535,230. The company has a market capitalization of $77.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.58, a P/E/G ratio of 4.33 and a beta of 0.49. The Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $61.56 and a fifty-two week high of $75.80. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $68.40 and a two-hundred day moving average of $68.83. The company has a quick ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 15th. The utilities provider reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $6.05 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.90 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 11.40% and a net margin of 15.79%. The company’s revenue was down 14.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.26 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 20th were issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.94%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 16th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is presently 77.14%.

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.