State of Tennessee Department of Treasury Reduces Holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

State of Tennessee Department of Treasury reduced its stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 4.3% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 403,181 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 17,932 shares during the period. State of Tennessee Department of Treasury’s holdings in Southern were worth $33,190,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Syverson Strege & Co lifted its position in Southern by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Syverson Strege & Co now owns 4,264 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $351,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares during the period. Providence Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Southern by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Providence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 41,073 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,381,000 after buying an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC increased its position in Southern by 15.9% during the 4th quarter. Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC now owns 895 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $74,000 after buying an additional 123 shares in the last quarter. Elevate Wealth Advisory Inc. boosted its holdings in Southern by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Elevate Wealth Advisory Inc. now owns 6,200 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $510,000 after acquiring an additional 123 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Missouri Trust & Investment Co grew its stake in shares of Southern by 23.1% in the fourth quarter. Missouri Trust & Investment Co now owns 671 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $55,000 after acquiring an additional 126 shares during the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. Guggenheim lowered shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Morgan Stanley restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Southern in a report on Thursday, March 20th. UBS Group increased their target price on Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Southern from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $94.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Mizuho increased their price objective on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Southern currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $92.00.

Southern Trading Down 1.7 %

Shares of Southern stock opened at $90.21 on Tuesday. The Southern Company has a 1-year low of $71.66 and a 1-year high of $94.45. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $89.38 and its 200-day simple moving average is $87.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $99.25 billion, a PE ratio of 22.50, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.39.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its quarterly 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). Southern had a net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 12.23%. The company had revenue of $6.34 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.90 billion. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.74 per share. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.28%. This is an increase from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. Southern’s payout ratio is currently 71.82%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.12, for a total transaction of $2,997,532.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 106,819 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,946,985.28. This trade represents a 23.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.00, for a total transaction of $1,250,440.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,236 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,138,296. This trade represents a 52.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 47,855 shares of company stock worth $4,348,784 over the last three months. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Southern Company 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.