Fiduciary Alliance LLC Sells 301 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Fiduciary Alliance LLC cut its holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 8.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,440 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 301 shares during the quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $245,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of SO. Trilogy Capital Inc. bought a new position in Southern in the first quarter worth about $320,000. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Southern by 3.0% in the 1st quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC now owns 168,993 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $12,124,000 after purchasing an additional 4,923 shares in the last quarter. Coston McIsaac & Partners increased its position in Southern by 4.0% during the 1st quarter. Coston McIsaac & Partners now owns 73,048 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,239,000 after buying an additional 2,807 shares in the last quarter. Vicus Capital purchased a new position in Southern during the first quarter valued at $280,000. Finally, Alpha Omega Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Southern by 13.6% in the 1st quarter. Alpha Omega Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,332 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $239,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Southern news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 9,126 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.04, for a total transaction of $684,815.04. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 121,504 shares in the company, valued at $9,117,660.16. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SO has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Southern from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Southern from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Argus increased their price objective 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. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Southern from $72.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Scotiabank reduced their price objective on Southern from $80.00 to $77.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. One 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 issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $76.14.

Southern Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of SO stock opened at $77.57 on Monday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $77.58 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $72.27. The Southern Company has a 52 week low of $61.56 and a 52 week high of $80.84. The stock has a market cap of $84.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.04, a PEG ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67.

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

Southern Increases Dividend

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

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.