The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Shares Sold by Keybank National Association OH

Keybank National Association OH cut its position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 0.2% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 125,996 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 217 shares during the period. Keybank National Association OH’s holdings in Southern were worth $10,372,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in Southern during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Southern by 168.1% in the third quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC now owns 311 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 195 shares in the last quarter. YANKCOM Partnership acquired a new stake in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in Southern during the fourth quarter worth approximately $35,000. Finally, WFA Asset Management Corp boosted its stake in Southern by 84.9% during the fourth quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 429 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 197 shares during the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.00, for a total transaction of $1,250,440.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,236 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,138,296. The trade was a 52.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 approximately $7,592,958.70. This trade represents a 1.31 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 16,835 shares of company stock valued at $1,451,754 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Southern Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE SO opened at $89.95 on Wednesday. The Southern Company has a 52-week low of $67.53 and a 52-week high of $94.45. The business’s 50 day moving average is $84.68 and its two-hundred day moving average is $86.94. The firm has a market cap of $98.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.43, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.51 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $6.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.90 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.23% and a net margin of 16.47%. Research analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be issued a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.20%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 71.82%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on SO. Guggenheim downgraded Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Mizuho increased their price target on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $90.54.

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.