The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Shares Sold by Cetera Investment Advisers

Cetera Investment Advisers trimmed its holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 1.2% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 528,511 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 6,197 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers’ holdings in Southern were worth $40,997,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Scarborough Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its stake in shares of Southern by 62.0% during the 1st quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 444 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 170 shares during the last quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southern during the 2nd quarter worth about $39,000. Finally, Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Southern by 3,628.6% during the 1st quarter. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 522 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 508 shares during the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Anthony L. Wilson sold 6,900 shares of Southern stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.61, for a total transaction of $535,509.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 85,309 shares in the company, valued at $6,620,831.49. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, EVP Sterling A. Jr. Spainhour sold 2,380 shares of the firm’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 transaction of $211,796.20. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 12,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,112,375. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Anthony L. Wilson sold 6,900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.61, for a total transaction of $535,509.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 85,309 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,620,831.49. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 15,845 shares of company stock worth $1,335,135 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Southern Trading Up 0.8 %

NYSE SO opened at $90.88 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $99.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.48, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 0.52. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $87.42 and its 200 day moving average price is $79.96. The Southern Company has a one year low of $61.56 and a one year high of $91.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.91.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $6.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.10 billion. Southern had a net margin of 17.67% and a return on equity of 12.88%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.79 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4.02 EPS for the current year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 19th were paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 19th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.17%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is currently 74.42%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Southern from $87.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Southern from $77.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Mizuho lowered shares of Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $90.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Southern from $66.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $86.60.

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.