The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Shares Sold by Columbia Asset Management

Columbia Asset Management lowered its position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 47.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 11,439 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 10,446 shares during the quarter. Columbia Asset Management's holdings in Southern were worth $1,052,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Syverson Strege & Co lifted its position in shares of Southern by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Syverson Strege & Co now owns 4,264 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $351,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares during the period. Providence Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in Southern by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Providence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 41,073 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $3,381,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. Coastal Bridge Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Southern by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Coastal Bridge Advisors LLC now owns 32,508 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $2,676,000 after purchasing an additional 122 shares in the last quarter. Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC lifted its position in shares of Southern by 15.9% during the 4th quarter. Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC now owns 895 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $74,000 after buying an additional 123 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Elevate Wealth Advisory Inc. raised its stake in Southern by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Elevate Wealth Advisory Inc. now owns 6,200 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $510,000 after acquiring an additional 123 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In other news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 106,819 shares in the company, valued at $9,946,985.28. The trade was a 23.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.16% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Barclays raised 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. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Southern from $95.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. 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 report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Southern in a report on Thursday, March 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Southern presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $92.64.

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE SO traded down $0.01 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $88.28. 6,725,070 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,531,172. The stock has a market capitalization of $97.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.67. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $89.85 and a 200 day moving average of $87.29. The Southern Company has a 1 year low of $76.96 and a 1 year high of $94.45.

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 for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $7.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $7.17 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.23% and a net margin of 16.47%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.03 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th will be issued a $0.74 dividend. This is an increase from Southern's previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.35%. Southern's payout ratio is presently 70.64%.

Southern Company 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.