Lantz Financial LLC Lowers Stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Lantz Financial LLC lowered its stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 2.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 34,479 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 914 shares during the quarter. Southern accounts for 0.9% of Lantz Financial LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 25th biggest position. Lantz Financial LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $3,170,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. KBC Group NV raised its position in Southern by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 86,766 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $7,143,000 after purchasing an additional 1,175 shares during the period. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. raised its position in Southern by 18.6% in the 4th quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 164,265 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $13,522,000 after purchasing an additional 25,818 shares during the period. OLD National Bancorp IN raised its position in Southern by 6.2% in the 4th quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN now owns 15,239 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,254,000 after purchasing an additional 893 shares during the period. Crews Bank & Trust purchased a new position in Southern in the 4th quarter worth $364,000. Finally, Cibc World Market Inc. raised its position in Southern by 165.3% in the 4th quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 152,739 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $12,573,000 after purchasing an additional 95,175 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on SO shares. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of Southern from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Southern in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Southern from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $94.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Southern from $95.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $92.21.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.61, for a total value of $100,811.25. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 102,090 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,148,284.90. This represents a 1.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 106,819 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,946,985.28. This represents a 23.16% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Southern Trading Up 1.3%

Shares of SO opened at $89.94 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $89.89 and its 200-day moving average price is $87.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $98.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.43, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60. The Southern Company has a 1-year low of $76.96 and a 1-year high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $7.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.17 billion. Southern had a net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 12.23%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.03 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.74 per share. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.29%. This is a positive change from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. Southern’s payout ratio is presently 70.64%.

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.