Rothschild Investment LLC Sells 253 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Rothschild Investment LLC cut its holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 0.3% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 98,380 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 253 shares during the period. Rothschild Investment LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $8,099,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of SO. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new position in Southern in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. YANKCOM Partnership bought a new position in Southern in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Southern by 168.1% during the 3rd quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC now owns 311 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 195 shares in the last quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp raised its position in shares of Southern by 84.9% during the 4th quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 429 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 197 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Valley National Advisers Inc. raised its position in shares of Southern by 244.4% during the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 434 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 308 shares in the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Southern Trading Up 0.7 %

NYSE:SO opened at $88.46 on Monday. The Southern Company has a one year low of $65.99 and a one 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 company’s 50-day simple moving average is $83.70 and its 200 day simple moving average is $86.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $96.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.06, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.53.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.51 by ($0.01). Southern had a return on equity of 12.23% and a net margin of 16.47%. The business had revenue of $6.34 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.90 billion. As a group, analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.26%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. Southern’s payout ratio is currently 71.82%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SO has been the topic of several research reports. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Mizuho raised their price objective 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. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on shares of Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Guggenheim cut shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Southern has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $90.54.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Southern news, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of Southern stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.00, for a total value of $1,250,440.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,236 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,138,296. The trade was a 52.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of Southern stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.90, for a total transaction of $100,503.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 88,393 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,592,958.70. This trade represents a 1.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.