Burns J W & Co. Inc. NY Sells 700 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Burns J W & Co. Inc. NY decreased its position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 17,841 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 700 shares during the quarter. Burns J W & Co. Inc. NY’s holdings in Southern were worth $1,609,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Southern in the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Scarborough Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southern in the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its stake in shares of Southern by 62.0% in the 1st quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 444 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 170 shares in the last quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southern in the 2nd quarter valued at $39,000. Finally, Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Southern by 3,628.6% in the 1st quarter. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 522 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 508 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SO has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Southern from $77.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Guggenheim lifted their price target on shares of Southern from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $88.27.

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of Southern stock traded down $0.39 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $90.31. 3,432,324 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,608,267. The Southern Company has a 12 month low of $62.26 and a 12 month high of $91.86. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $87.94 and a 200 day simple moving average of $80.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.91. The company has a market capitalization of $98.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.34, a P/E/G ratio of 3.28 and a beta of 0.52.

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

Southern Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Investors of record on Monday, August 19th were paid a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 19th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.19%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is 74.42%.

Insider Activity at Southern

In related news, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of Southern stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.54, for a total value of $587,830.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,467 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,981,575.18. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Sterling A. Jr. Spainhour sold 2,380 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 12,500 shares in the company, valued at $1,112,375. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.54, for a total transaction of $587,830.10. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 44,467 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,981,575.18. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.