Norris Perne & French LLP MI Sells 2,188 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Norris Perne & French LLP MI cut its position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 0.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 228,378 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 2,188 shares during the period. Norris Perne & French LLP MI’s holdings in Southern were worth $18,800,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL bought a new position in Southern during the 2nd quarter valued at about $60,000. Heritage Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Southern in the second quarter worth approximately $372,000. Centaurus Financial Inc. grew its position in Southern by 4.5% in the 2nd quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 28,878 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,240,000 after purchasing an additional 1,249 shares during the period. Emprise Bank bought a new position in shares of Southern during the 3rd quarter valued at $203,000. Finally, M&R Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Southern by 15.0% in the 3rd quarter. M&R Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,552 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $140,000 after buying an additional 202 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SO has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Scotiabank increased their target price on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Guggenheim lowered Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Southern currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $90.14.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.90, for a total value of $100,503.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 88,393 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,592,958.70. This trade represents a 1.31 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Southern Stock Up 2.6 %

Shares of SO opened at $84.95 on Friday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $84.05 and its 200-day simple moving average is $86.55. The Southern Company has a 1 year low of $65.80 and a 1 year high of $94.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $93.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.52.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $7.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.14 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.78% and a net margin of 17.87%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.42 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be issued a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.39%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 66.98%.

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.