Golden State Equity Partners Has $857,000 Stock Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Golden State Equity Partners reduced its position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 6.4% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 12,217 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 835 shares during the period. Golden State Equity Partners’ holdings in Southern were worth $857,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its stake in shares of Southern by 38.5% during the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,547,188 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $488,461,000 after purchasing an additional 2,096,988 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in Southern by 5.0% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 38,906,760 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,518,045,000 after acquiring an additional 1,838,857 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Southern by 6,303.7% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,199,544 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $84,112,000 after acquiring an additional 1,180,812 shares in the last quarter. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. lifted its holdings in Southern by 8,375.3% during the third quarter. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. now owns 849,646 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $54,989,000 after acquiring an additional 839,621 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Southern by 24.3% during the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,480,805 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $160,558,000 after acquiring an additional 485,562 shares in the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Southern Stock Performance

NYSE SO traded down $1.16 during trading on Friday, reaching $73.21. 5,478,762 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,829,927. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $69.64 and a 200-day moving average price of $69.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $80.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.17, a PEG ratio of 4.66 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.56. The Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $61.56 and a fifty-two week high of $75.80.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The utilities provider reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $6.05 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.90 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 11.40% and a net margin of 15.79%. The business’s revenue was down 14.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.26 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 3.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 20th will be given a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 17th. This is an increase from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. Southern’s payout ratio is 77.14%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Christopher Cummiskey sold 899 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.06, for a total value of $60,286.94. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 22,502 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,508,984.12. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, EVP Christopher Cummiskey sold 899 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.06, for a total transaction of $60,286.94. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 22,502 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,508,984.12. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Stephen E. Kuczynski sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.92, for a total value of $344,600.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 126,528 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,720,309.76. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 10,899 shares of company stock valued at $739,587 over the last 90 days. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on SO. UBS Group lowered Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $78.00 to $76.00 in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $80.00 target price on shares of Southern in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Scotiabank cut their price target on Southern from $80.00 to $77.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Bank of America boosted their price target on Southern from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Southern from $75.00 to $72.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Southern currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $74.36.

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.