Cresset Asset Management LLC Trims Holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Cresset Asset Management LLC trimmed its stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 74.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 17,598 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 51,064 shares during the quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC's holdings in Southern were worth $1,449,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of SO. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Southern by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,351,025 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $121,835,000 after acquiring an additional 52,799 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in shares of Southern by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 58,881 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $4,842,000 after buying an additional 1,816 shares in the last quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Southern by 85.5% during the 4th quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 7,920 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $652,000 after buying an additional 3,650 shares in the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Southern by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 29,063 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $2,392,000 after buying an additional 886 shares in the last quarter. Finally, HBW Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Southern by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. HBW Advisory Services LLC now owns 9,400 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $774,000 after buying an additional 429 shares in the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on SO. KeyCorp cut Southern from a "sector weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and set a $78.00 price target for the company. in a report on Wednesday. Barclays increased their target price on Southern from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Morgan Stanley reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Southern in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Southern from an "underweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $94.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Guggenheim reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $93.00 target price on shares of Southern in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $92.07.

Southern Stock Down 0.5%

NYSE:SO traded down $0.41 on Wednesday, hitting $85.16. The stock had a trading volume of 8,015,043 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,432,178. The business's fifty day moving average is $90.16 and its 200 day moving average is $87.23. The company has a market cap of $93.60 billion, a PE ratio of 21.24, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.40. 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 Southern Company has a 52 week low of $76.64 and a 52 week high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.03. Southern had a return on equity of 12.23% and a net margin of 16.47%. The company had revenue of $7.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.17 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.03 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be given a $0.74 dividend. This is an increase from Southern's previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.48%. Southern's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 70.64%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Southern news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of Southern stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.61, for a total transaction of $100,811.25. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 102,090 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,148,284.90. The trade was a 1.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of Southern stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.12, for a total value of $2,997,532.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 106,819 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,946,985.28. This represents a 23.16% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.16% of the company's stock.

Southern Profile

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.