Delta Asset Management LLC TN Sells 281 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Delta Asset Management LLC TN trimmed its position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 1.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,729 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 281 shares during the quarter. Delta Asset Management LLC TN’s holdings in Southern were worth $1,212,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 698,422 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position 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 valued at $2,203,386,000 after purchasing an additional 1,075,768 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Southern by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,599,710 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $543,288,000 after buying an additional 194,114 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Southern in the 4th quarter worth about $315,290,000. Finally, Synovus Financial Corp raised its position in shares of Southern by 72.4% during the 3rd quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 3,077,959 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $277,570,000 after buying an additional 1,293,072 shares in the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In other news, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of Southern stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 13,236 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,138,296. The trade was a 52.35 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of Southern stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.61, for a total transaction of $100,811.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 102,090 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,148,284.90. The trade was a 1.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 47,855 shares of company stock valued at $4,348,784. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Southern Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE SO opened at $89.00 on Thursday. The Southern Company has a twelve month low of $67.53 and a twelve month 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. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $87.07 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $87.24. The firm has a market cap of $97.61 billion, a PE ratio of 22.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 earnings per share (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. Analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were issued a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.24%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is currently 71.82%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

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.