Symphony Financial Ltd. Co. Sells 5,056 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Symphony Financial Ltd. Co. decreased its position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 29.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 12,247 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 5,056 shares during the quarter. Symphony Financial Ltd. Co.’s holdings in Southern were worth $879,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Southern by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 99,572,665 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,444,343,000 after acquiring an additional 352,023 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its stake in shares of Southern by 53.2% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 16,444,163 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,153,065,000 after acquiring an additional 5,707,845 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its position in Southern by 3.7% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 9,811,307 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $634,988,000 after buying an additional 349,122 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Southern during the fourth quarter valued at about $631,068,000. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its position in Southern by 38.5% during the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,547,188 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $488,461,000 after buying an additional 2,096,988 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Southern

In related news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 9,126 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Southern Price Performance

Shares of Southern stock traded down $0.47 on Friday, reaching $77.57. The stock had a trading volume of 6,226,973 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,873,369. The Southern Company has a 1 year low of $61.56 and a 1 year high of $80.84. The company has a market cap of $84.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67. The business’s 50 day moving average is $77.58 and its two-hundred day moving average is $72.28.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The utilities provider reported $1.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $6.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.59 billion. Southern had a net margin of 16.74% and a return on equity of 12.07%. Southern’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.79 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 4 EPS for the current year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 6th. Investors of record on Monday, May 20th were paid a $0.72 dividend. This is an increase from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 17th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 74.42%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Argus increased their price target on shares of Southern from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 15th. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Southern from $73.00 to $79.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Southern from $74.00 to $71.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 24th. Mizuho increased their price target on shares of Southern from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Southern from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $76.14.

Southern Company 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.