Intrust Bank NA Cuts Stock Holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Intrust Bank NA lessened its holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 5.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,721 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 569 shares during the quarter. Intrust Bank NA’s holdings in Southern were worth $800,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Southern by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 102,790,453 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $8,461,710,000 after purchasing an additional 698,422 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Southern by 4.6% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 24,521,339 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,203,386,000 after buying an additional 1,075,768 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Southern during the fourth quarter worth about $848,019,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Southern by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,599,710 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $543,288,000 after buying an additional 194,114 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $315,290,000. 64.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Southern Stock Performance

NYSE:SO opened at $91.10 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $99.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.72, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $87.34 and its two-hundred day moving average is $87.26. The Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $67.53 and a fifty-two week high of $94.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $6.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.90 billion. Southern had a net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 12.23%. Analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were given a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.16%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 71.82%.

Insider Transactions at Southern

In related news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.12, for a total value of $2,997,532.80. Following the transaction, 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 legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 13,236 shares in the company, valued at $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 47,855 shares of company stock valued at $4,348,784 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on SO shares. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Guggenheim downgraded Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Southern in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Mizuho increased their price target on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Southern presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $91.46.

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.