First Financial Bankshares Inc Trims Stock Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

First Financial Bankshares Inc lowered its stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 4.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,993 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 151 shares during the quarter. First Financial Bankshares Inc’s holdings in Southern were worth $246,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new position in Southern in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. YANKCOM Partnership purchased a new stake in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. WFA Asset Management Corp increased its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 197 shares during the last quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. lifted its position in Southern by 244.4% during the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 434 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 308 shares during the period. Finally, Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in Southern in the 4th quarter worth about $35,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Southern Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of Southern stock opened at $90.22 on Wednesday. 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 50-day moving average price of $86.26 and a 200 day moving average price of $87.21. The Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $67.53 and a fifty-two week high of $94.45. The firm has a market cap of $98.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.50, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its quarterly 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 net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 12.23%. The firm had revenue of $6.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.90 billion. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The firm 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.19%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 71.82%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on SO shares. Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Guggenheim downgraded Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $90.54.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In other Southern 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 value of $1,250,440.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.12, for a total transaction of $2,997,532.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 106,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,946,985.28. This trade represents a 23.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 47,855 shares of company stock worth $4,348,784 over the last ninety days. 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.