Stableford Capital II LLC Sells 198 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Stableford Capital II LLC trimmed its holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 1.7% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 11,742 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 198 shares during the period. Stableford Capital II LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $967,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new position in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Southern by 168.1% in the 3rd quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC now owns 311 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 195 shares during the period. West Branch Capital LLC increased its position in Southern by 34.7% during the 3rd quarter. West Branch Capital LLC now owns 501 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $45,000 after buying an additional 129 shares during the period. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southern in the third quarter valued at about $49,000. Finally, Quarry LP bought a new position in Southern during the third quarter worth about $49,000. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on SO. Guggenheim downgraded shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Scotiabank upped their target price on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays raised their price target on Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Southern has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $90.14.

Southern Stock Performance

NYSE:SO opened at $83.91 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $83.92 and its 200-day moving average is $86.56. The stock has a market cap of $91.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.52. The Southern Company has a 1-year low of $65.80 and a 1-year high of $94.45. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $7.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.14 billion. Southern had a net margin of 17.87% and a return on equity of 12.78%. The company’s revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.42 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 4.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be issued a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.43%. Southern’s payout ratio is 66.98%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.90, for a total value of $100,503.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 88,393 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,592,958.70. The trade was a 1.31 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

About Southern

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.