The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Shares Sold by Intrust Bank NA

Intrust Bank NA lessened its stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 5.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,721 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 569 shares during the period. Intrust Bank NA’s holdings in Southern were worth $800,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Townsquare Capital LLC raised its position in Southern by 40.8% in the third quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 26,530 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,392,000 after purchasing an additional 7,694 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its holdings in Southern by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 213,985 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $19,297,000 after buying an additional 9,689 shares during the period. Fiduciary Trust Co lifted its position in Southern by 4.0% in the third quarter. Fiduciary Trust Co now owns 7,568 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $682,000 after buying an additional 289 shares during the last quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. boosted its stake in Southern by 0.6% during the third quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 170,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $15,303,000 after buying an additional 988 shares during the period. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors increased its position in shares of Southern by 1.4% during the third quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 286,666 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $25,852,000 after acquiring an additional 3,820 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Southern

In other news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of Southern stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 106,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,946,985.28. The trade was a 23.16 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.61, for a total transaction of $100,811.25. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 102,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,148,284.90. This represents a 1.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 47,855 shares of company stock worth $4,348,784. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on SO. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Southern in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Guggenheim lowered Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Mizuho increased their target price on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. UBS Group lifted their target price on Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Southern has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $91.46.

Southern Trading Up 1.2 %

SO opened at $91.10 on Friday. 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 Southern Company has a one year low of $67.53 and a one year high of $94.45. The company has a market cap of $99.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.72, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $87.34 and its 200-day simple moving average is $87.26.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by ($0.01). Southern had a return on equity of 12.23% and a net margin of 16.47%. The company had revenue of $6.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.90 billion. As a group, equities research analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were issued a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.16%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. Southern’s payout ratio is 71.82%.

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.