Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund Cuts Holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund decreased its position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 7.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 35,991 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 2,863 shares during the period. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund’s holdings in Southern were worth $2,582,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in SO. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. Scarborough Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its position in shares of Southern by 62.0% during the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 444 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 170 shares in the last quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 63.9% in the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 526 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 205 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 3,628.6% in the 1st quarter. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 522 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 508 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Southern Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:SO traded up $0.51 during trading on Friday, reaching $82.17. 4,010,104 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,083,865. The firm has a market capitalization of $89.85 billion, a PE ratio of 21.23, a P/E/G ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 0.51. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $79.06 and its 200-day simple moving average is $73.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.65. The Southern Company has a 12-month low of $61.56 and a 12-month high of $83.46.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The utilities provider reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $6.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.59 billion. Southern had a net margin of 16.74% and a return on equity of 12.07%. Southern’s revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.79 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 4.01 EPS for the current year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 6th. Investors of record on Monday, August 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 19th. Southern’s payout ratio is 74.42%.

Insider Activity at Southern

In related news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 9,126 shares of Southern stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.04, for a total transaction of $684,815.04. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 121,504 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,117,660.16. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Southern news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 9,126 shares of Southern stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.04, for a total value of $684,815.04. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 121,504 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,117,660.16. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Sloane N. Drake sold 12,000 shares of Southern stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.61, for a total transaction of $931,320.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,771 shares in the company, valued at $1,301,597.31. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 28,026 shares of company stock valued at $2,151,644 over the last ninety days. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SO has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Southern from $72.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Southern from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Southern from $66.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $76.00 price objective (up previously from $72.00) on shares of Southern in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Finally, UBS Group downgraded shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $78.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $76.50.

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.