The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Shares Sold by Chemung Canal Trust Co.

Chemung Canal Trust Co. decreased its position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 2.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 13,807 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 276 shares during the quarter. Chemung Canal Trust Co.’s holdings in Southern were worth $991,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norris Perne & French LLP MI boosted its holdings in shares of Southern by 2.5% during the first quarter. Norris Perne & French LLP MI now owns 393,082 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $28,200,000 after acquiring an additional 9,481 shares during the period. S.E.E.D. Planning Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Southern by 358.5% during the first quarter. S.E.E.D. Planning Group LLC now owns 26,714 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,916,000 after acquiring an additional 20,888 shares during the period. Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. boosted its holdings in shares of Southern by 11.9% during the first quarter. Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. now owns 5,465 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $374,000 after acquiring an additional 582 shares during the period. Register Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Southern by 14.6% during the first quarter. Register Financial Advisors LLC now owns 17,590 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,262,000 after acquiring an additional 2,246 shares during the period. Finally, Indiana Trust & Investment Management CO boosted its holdings in shares of Southern by 31.7% during the first quarter. Indiana Trust & Investment Management CO now owns 2,060 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $148,000 after acquiring an additional 496 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on SO shares. UBS Group lowered shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $78.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Southern from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Southern from $73.00 to $79.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Argus increased their target price on shares of Southern from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Southern from $74.00 to $71.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $76.14.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 9,126 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.04, for a total value of $684,815.04. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 121,504 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,117,660.16. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Southern Price Performance

SO stock opened at $77.57 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67. The Southern Company has a one year low of $61.56 and a one year high of $80.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $84.82 billion, a PE ratio of 20.04, a P/E/G ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.51. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $77.58 and a two-hundred day moving average of $72.28.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The utilities provider reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.13. Southern had a net margin of 16.74% and a return on equity of 12.07%. The company had revenue of $6.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.59 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.79 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 20th were paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 17th. This is a positive change from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.71%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is currently 74.42%.

About Southern

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.