First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. Cuts Holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. cut its holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 6.6% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 57,548 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 4,059 shares during the quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co.’s holdings in Southern were worth $5,190,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of SO. TruNorth Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Southern during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $39,000. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Southern by 3,628.6% during the first quarter. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 522 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 508 shares in the last quarter. Cedar Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Southern by 63.2% in the first quarter. Cedar Wealth Management LLC now owns 545 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 211 shares during the last quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division purchased a new position in shares of Southern in the first quarter valued at $39,000. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc raised its stake in shares of Southern by 31.8% during the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 585 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $45,000 after buying an additional 141 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on SO. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Southern from $80.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 12th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Southern from $87.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Guggenheim increased their target price on Southern from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Southern from $78.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Southern currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $89.07.

Southern Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of SO stock opened at $93.25 on Friday. The Southern Company has a 1-year low of $64.53 and a 1-year high of $93.35. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $88.81 and its 200-day simple moving average is $81.64. The firm has a market cap of $101.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.20, a PEG ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.66.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.19. Southern had a net margin of 17.67% and a return on equity of 12.88%. The company had revenue of $6.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.10 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.79 earnings per share. Southern’s revenue was up 12.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.02 EPS for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be given a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.09%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 68.57%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.54, for a total transaction of $587,830.10. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 44,467 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,981,575.18. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Southern news, EVP Sterling A. Jr. Spainhour sold 2,380 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.99, for a total value of $211,796.20. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 12,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,112,375. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.54, for a total value of $587,830.10. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,467 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,981,575.18. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 38,945 shares of company stock worth $3,488,826 over the last three months. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.