The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Shares Sold by Wealth Alliance

Wealth Alliance lessened its holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 15.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 15,649 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 2,763 shares during the period. Wealth Alliance’s holdings in Southern were worth $1,214,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of SO. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Scarborough Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Southern in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its stake in shares of Southern by 62.0% in the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 444 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 170 shares in the last quarter. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Southern by 3,628.6% during the first quarter. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 522 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 508 shares during the period. Finally, Cassady Schiller Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Southern by 46.3% during the fourth quarter. Cassady Schiller Wealth Management LLC now owns 556 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 176 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Southern Stock Down 0.7 %

Southern stock opened at $89.01 on Thursday. The Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $61.56 and a fifty-two week high of $90.34. 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 company has a market capitalization of $97.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.00, a PEG ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.52. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $85.83 and a 200-day simple moving average of $78.58.

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 the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.19. Southern had a return on equity of 12.88% and a net margin of 17.67%. The business had revenue of $6.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.10 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.79 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 19th were issued a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 19th. Southern’s payout ratio is currently 74.42%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Southern from $87.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Southern from $80.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Southern from $66.00 to $71.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their price objective on shares of Southern from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $84.71.

Insider Activity

In other Southern news, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.54, for a total transaction of $587,830.10. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,467 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,981,575.18. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Southern news, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.54, for a total transaction of $587,830.10. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,467 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,981,575.18. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Sterling A. Jr. Spainhour sold 2,380 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.99, for a total value of $211,796.20. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 12,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,112,375. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 27,845 shares of company stock valued at $2,266,455. 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.