The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Shares Sold by Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC

Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC trimmed its holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 7.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 17,853 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,412 shares during the quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $1,470,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new position in Southern in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Southern by 168.1% in the third quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC now owns 311 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 195 shares during the period. YANKCOM Partnership acquired a new stake in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Finally, WFA Asset Management Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Southern by 84.9% in the fourth quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 429 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 197 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Southern Trading Up 3.2 %

NYSE:SO opened at $91.54 on Friday. The Southern Company has a 1 year low of $67.53 and a 1 year high of $94.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $100.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.83, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $85.07 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $87.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.67.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by ($0.01). Southern had a net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 12.23%. The firm had revenue of $6.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.90 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th were paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. Southern’s payout ratio is currently 71.82%.

Insider Activity at Southern

In related news, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.00, for a total transaction of $1,250,440.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 13,236 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,138,296. This trade represents a 52.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.61, for a total value of $100,811.25. Following the sale, 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. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on SO. Guggenheim downgraded Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Mizuho increased their price target on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Scotiabank increased their price target on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $90.54.

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.