B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. Sells 4,916 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. decreased its stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 6.3% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 73,720 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 4,916 shares during the period. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $5,718,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital International Investors boosted its stake in shares of Southern by 45.9% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 23,994,733 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,721,382,000 after buying an additional 7,550,570 shares during the last quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Southern in the first quarter worth about $128,413,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of Southern by 36.0% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,529,052 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $247,457,000 after purchasing an additional 934,447 shares during the period. 1832 Asset Management L.P. increased its position in shares of Southern by 2,719.7% during the 2nd quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 872,373 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $67,670,000 after purchasing an additional 841,435 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wulff Hansen & CO. lifted its stake in shares of Southern by 7,657.0% in the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 571,148 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $44,304,000 after purchasing an additional 563,785 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Sterling A. Jr. Spainhour sold 2,380 shares of Southern stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the executive vice president now 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 available through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Anthony L. Wilson sold 6,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 5th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $6,620,831.49. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Sterling A. Jr. Spainhour sold 2,380 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 owns 12,500 shares in the company, valued at $1,112,375. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 27,845 shares of company stock valued at $2,266,455 over the last ninety days. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on SO. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Southern from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Southern in a research note on Friday, September 20th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $94.00 price objective for the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Southern from $77.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Mizuho cut Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $90.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Wolfe Research cut Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $86.60.

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE SO opened at $90.17 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.91. The Southern Company has a 52-week low of $61.56 and a 52-week high of $90.85. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $87.23 and its two-hundred day moving average is $79.81. The company has a market cap of $98.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.30, a P/E/G ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 0.52.

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

Southern Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Investors of record on Monday, August 19th were given a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 19th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.19%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is currently 74.42%.

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.