Waldron Private Wealth LLC Has $355,000 Stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Waldron Private Wealth LLC reduced its position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 7.1% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 5,076 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 388 shares during the period. Waldron Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $355,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. BKM Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southern in the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. bought a new position in shares of Southern in the 4th quarter worth $34,000. RVW Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Southern in the 3rd quarter worth $35,000. Valley National Advisers Inc. boosted its position in shares of Southern by 63.9% in the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 526 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 205 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CNB Bank boosted its position in shares of Southern by 1,021.4% in the 3rd quarter. CNB Bank now owns 628 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 572 shares during the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Southern news, CEO Stephen E. Kuczynski sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.92, for a total transaction of $344,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 126,528 shares in the company, valued at $8,720,309.76. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Stephen E. Kuczynski sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.92, for a total transaction of $344,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 126,528 shares in the company, valued at $8,720,309.76. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Christopher Cummiskey sold 899 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.06, for a total transaction of $60,286.94. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 22,502 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,508,984.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 20,998 shares of company stock worth $1,446,113 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.37% of the company’s stock.

Southern Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE:SO opened at $68.39 on Tuesday. The Southern Company has a 12-month low of $61.56 and a 12-month high of $75.80. The stock has a market cap of $74.86 billion, a PE ratio of 18.84, a P/E/G ratio of 4.29 and a beta of 0.49. The business has a 50 day moving average of $68.78 and a 200-day moving average of $68.95. The company has a quick ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The utilities provider reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $6.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.90 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 11.40% and a net margin of 15.79%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 14.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.26 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 20th were paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 16th. Southern’s payout ratio is presently 77.14%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SO has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Southern from $75.00 to $72.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Mizuho lifted their target price on Southern from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $76.00 target price (up from $72.00) on shares of Southern in a report on Monday, April 1st. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $80.00 target price on shares of Southern in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on Southern from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $74.07.

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.