Cahaba Wealth Management Inc. Sells 26,061 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Cahaba Wealth Management Inc. cut its position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 8.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 274,044 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 26,061 shares during the quarter. Southern accounts for about 1.9% of Cahaba Wealth Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest holding. Cahaba Wealth Management Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $21,258,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Lloyd Advisory Services LLC. acquired a new position in shares of Southern in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $376,000. Advisor OS LLC raised its position in shares of Southern by 19.6% in the 2nd quarter. Advisor OS LLC now owns 14,432 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,119,000 after buying an additional 2,364 shares in the last quarter. Savant Capital LLC increased its position in Southern by 290.4% during the 2nd quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 246,591 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $19,128,000 after purchasing an additional 183,425 shares in the last quarter. Narwhal Capital Management acquired a new position in Southern during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $299,000. Finally, Private Advisor Group LLC increased its position in Southern by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 109,052 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $8,459,000 after purchasing an additional 2,294 shares in the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Southern Stock Down 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE:SO opened at $88.40 on Friday. The Southern Company has a 1 year low of $61.56 and a 1 year high of $90.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.66. The business’s 50-day moving average is $83.99 and its 200-day moving average is $77.27. The company has a market capitalization of $96.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.84, a P/E/G ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.52.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $6.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.10 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.88% and a net margin of 17.67%. The company’s revenue was up 12.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.79 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 19th were issued a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 19th. Southern’s payout ratio is 74.42%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently issued reports on SO. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Southern from $72.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of Southern from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Southern from $80.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Wolfe Research cut shares of Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Southern from $87.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $83.71.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In other 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 12,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,112,375. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Southern news, CEO Anthony L. Wilson sold 6,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.61, for a total transaction of $535,509.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 85,309 shares in the company, valued at $6,620,831.49. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Sterling A. Jr. Spainhour sold 2,380 shares of Southern stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.99, for a total transaction of $211,796.20. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 12,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,112,375. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 21,280 shares of company stock valued at $1,678,625. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.