The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Stock Holdings Lessened by RNC Capital Management LLC

RNC Capital Management LLC cut its stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO – Get Rating) by 14.4% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 3,412 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 576 shares during the quarter. RNC Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $244,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Prudential PLC increased its position in shares of Southern by 23.4% in the first quarter. Prudential PLC now owns 19,438 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,409,000 after acquiring an additional 3,689 shares in the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust boosted its stake in Southern by 33.5% in the 1st quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 1,727 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $126,000 after purchasing an additional 433 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd grew its position in Southern by 63.0% during the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,902 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $138,000 after purchasing an additional 735 shares in the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its stake in Southern by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 49,925 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,621,000 after purchasing an additional 221 shares during the period. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 35.8% in the first quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 907,132 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $65,776,000 after purchasing an additional 239,325 shares in the last quarter. 61.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In other news, CEO Stephen E. Kuczynski sold 14,546 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.95, for a total value of $1,032,038.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 120,786 shares in the company, valued at $8,569,766.70. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other Southern news, EVP Christopher Cummiskey sold 1,282 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.60, for a total value of $85,381.20. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 27,512 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,832,299.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Stephen E. Kuczynski sold 14,546 shares of Southern stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.95, for a total value of $1,032,038.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 120,786 shares in the company, valued at $8,569,766.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 16,680 shares of company stock worth $1,174,768 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.37% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on SO. UBS Group lowered their price target on Southern to $80.00 in a report on Monday, November 21st. Credit Suisse Group lifted their target price on Southern from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 18th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Southern from $73.00 to $71.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 17th. Mizuho lowered their price objective on shares of Southern from $73.00 to $72.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 12th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Southern from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $76.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 12th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Southern currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $71.93.

Southern Stock Down 0.3 %

Southern stock opened at $67.90 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47. The Southern Company has a 1-year low of $58.85 and a 1-year high of $80.57. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $66.86 and its 200-day simple moving average is $68.60. The company has a market capitalization of $73.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.70, a P/E/G ratio of 4.71 and a beta of 0.49.

Southern (NYSE:SO – Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 16th. The utilities provider reported $0.26 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.24 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $7.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.83 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 11.73% and a net margin of 12.40%. The business’s revenue was up 22.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.36 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 3.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 21st were given a dividend of $0.68 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 17th. This represents a $2.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.01%. Southern’s payout ratio is currently 82.93%.

Southern Profile

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The Southern Co is a holding company, which engages in the generation and sale of electricity. It operates through the following segments: Traditional Electric Operating Companies, Southern Power and Southern Company Gas. The Traditional Electric Operating Companies segment refers to vertically integrated utilities that own generation, transmission and distribution facilities, and supplies electric services in the states of Alabama, Georgia, Florida, and Mississippi.