Sheets Smith Wealth Management Cuts Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Sheets Smith Wealth Management trimmed its holdings in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 4.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,359 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 684 shares during the quarter. Sheets Smith Wealth Management’s holdings in Southern were worth $1,007,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. BKM Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southern in the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. Valley National Advisers Inc. grew its stake in shares of Southern by 63.9% during the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 526 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 205 shares during the period. CNB Bank increased its holdings in Southern by 1,021.4% in the 3rd quarter. CNB Bank now owns 628 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 572 shares during the last quarter. Your Advocates Ltd. LLP bought a new stake in Southern in the 3rd quarter valued at about $42,000. Finally, Atticus Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Southern by 30.4% during the third quarter. Atticus Wealth Management LLC now owns 652 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 152 shares during the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 9,126 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $9,117,660.16. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Southern news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 9,126 shares of Southern stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.04, for a total transaction of $684,815.04. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Stephen E. Kuczynski sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.92, for a total transaction of $344,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 126,528 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,720,309.76. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 20,025 shares of company stock worth $1,424,402. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on SO shares. Scotiabank decreased their price objective on Southern from $80.00 to $77.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Southern from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Southern from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Southern from $72.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Bank of America raised their price target on Southern from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Southern presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $74.71.

Southern Stock Performance

NYSE SO traded up $0.14 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $75.99. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,901,975 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,726,478. The Southern Company has a 12 month low of $61.56 and a 12 month high of $76.28. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $70.39 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $69.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.65. The company has a market cap of $83.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.75 and a beta of 0.48.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The utilities provider reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.13. Southern had a net margin of 16.74% and a return on equity of 12.07%. The firm had revenue of $6.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.59 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.79 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 3.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 17th. This is a boost from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 72.35%.

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.