EP Wealth Advisors LLC Cuts Stock Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

EP Wealth Advisors LLC cut its position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 3.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 343,633 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 11,248 shares during the quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings in Southern were worth $28,288,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Southern during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $848,019,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $315,290,000. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 325.7% during the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 4,322,931 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $355,864,000 after purchasing an additional 3,307,527 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its position in Southern by 562.9% during the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,368,788 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $112,679,000 after buying an additional 1,162,288 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Southern by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 102,790,453 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $8,461,710,000 after acquiring an additional 698,422 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SO has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Barclays lifted their price objective on Southern from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. UBS Group increased their price objective on Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Southern from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Southern from an "underweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $94.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Mizuho upped their target price 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. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $93.07.

Southern Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:SO traded up $0.06 on Friday, hitting $90.37. The company had a trading volume of 2,982,528 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,403,527. The company has a market cap of $99.32 billion, a PE ratio of 22.54, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.40. The business has a 50 day moving average of $90.24 and a 200 day moving average of $87.36. The Southern Company has a 52-week low of $76.64 and a 52-week high of $94.45. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $7.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $7.17 billion. Southern had a net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 12.23%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.03 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.74 per share. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.28%. This is a positive change from Southern's previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. Southern's dividend payout ratio is currently 70.64%.

Insider Transactions at Southern

In related news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.12, for a total value of $2,997,532.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 106,819 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,946,985.28. The trade was a 23.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,236 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,138,296. This represents a 52.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 47,855 shares of company stock worth $4,348,784 over the last quarter. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.