Smith Anglin Financial LLC Sells 2,170 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Smith Anglin Financial LLC lessened its holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 32.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,571 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 2,170 shares during the quarter. Smith Anglin Financial LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $420,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Investors Research Corp lifted its position in shares of Southern by 400.0% in the first quarter. Investors Research Corp now owns 270 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. YANKCOM Partnership bought a new stake in Southern during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in Southern during the fourth quarter worth $35,000. Valley National Advisers Inc. raised its position in Southern by 244.4% during the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 434 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 308 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp bought a new stake in Southern during the fourth quarter worth $37,000. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Southern from $95.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Southern in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Southern from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $94.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. KeyCorp lowered shares of Southern from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $78.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $92.21.

Southern Price Performance

NYSE:SO opened at $89.66 on Wednesday. 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 firm’s fifty day moving average price is $89.90 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $87.28. The Southern Company has a one year low of $76.96 and a one year high of $94.45. The company has a market cap of $98.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.36, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.40.

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

Southern Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.74 per share. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.30%. This is an increase from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is presently 70.64%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.12, for a total value of $2,997,532.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 106,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,946,985.28. This represents a 23.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.16% 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.