The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Shares Sold by Sentry Investment Management LLC

Sentry Investment Management LLC decreased its holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 9.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,711 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 614 shares during the period. Sentry Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $400,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of SO. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Southern by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 99,572,665 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,444,343,000 after purchasing an additional 352,023 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Southern by 5.0% during the 3rd 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. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of Southern by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 10,737,843 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $694,953,000 after purchasing an additional 163,986 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its position in shares of Southern by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 9,811,307 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $634,988,000 after purchasing an additional 349,122 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its position in shares of Southern by 38.5% during the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,547,188 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $488,461,000 after purchasing an additional 2,096,988 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SO has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Southern from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. UBS Group cut shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $78.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $80.00 price target on shares of Southern in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $76.00 target price (up from $72.00) on shares of Southern in a report on Monday, April 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Southern from $75.00 to $72.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $74.07.

Southern Stock Down 0.5 %

NYSE SO opened at $68.39 on Tuesday. The Southern Company has a 12 month low of $61.56 and a 12 month high of $75.80. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $68.78 and its 200 day simple moving average is $68.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.56. The company has a market capitalization of $74.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.84, a PEG ratio of 4.29 and a beta of 0.49.

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

Southern Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed 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 4.09%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 16th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is currently 77.14%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider David P. Poroch sold 10,099 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.96, for a total transaction of $706,526.04. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 28,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,007,222.36. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, insider David P. Poroch sold 10,099 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.96, for a total value of $706,526.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 28,691 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,007,222.36. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Christopher Cummiskey sold 899 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.06, for a total transaction of $60,286.94. Following the sale, 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. In the last three months, insiders sold 20,998 shares of company stock valued at $1,446,113. Company insiders own 0.37% of the company’s stock.

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.