Bangor Savings Bank Lowers Holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Bangor Savings Bank trimmed its holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 5.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 20,428 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,094 shares during the period. Bangor Savings Bank’s holdings in Southern were worth $1,878,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Robertson Stephens Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Southern by 49.2% during the fourth quarter. Robertson Stephens Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,963 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $738,000 after buying an additional 2,957 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC boosted its position in shares of Southern by 9,665.0% during the fourth quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 269,319 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $22,170,000 after buying an additional 266,561 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd boosted its position in shares of Southern by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 148,752 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $12,245,000 after buying an additional 5,836 shares during the period. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter worth $635,000. Finally, Platform Technology Partners raised its stake in shares of Southern by 8.7% in the fourth quarter. Platform Technology Partners now owns 3,727 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $307,000 after acquiring an additional 299 shares in the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group increased their price objective on Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Guggenheim reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $93.00 price objective on shares of Southern in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Southern from $95.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Barclays increased their price objective on Southern from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Southern from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $94.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $92.64.

Insider Transactions at Southern

In other news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of Southern 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 106,819 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,946,985.28. The trade was a 23.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Southern Stock Down 0.1%

Southern stock opened at $88.26 on Friday. The Southern Company has a 1-year low of $76.96 and a 1-year high of $94.45. 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 cap of $97.00 billion, a PE ratio of 22.01, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.38. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $89.70 and its two-hundred day moving average is $87.28.

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

Southern Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 19th were given a dividend of $0.74 per share. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.35%. This is a boost from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. Southern’s payout ratio is 70.64%.

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.