The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Shares Sold by Valmark Advisers Inc.

Valmark Advisers Inc. trimmed its position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 9.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,309 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,189 shares during the period. Valmark Advisers Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $793,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of SO. BKM Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Southern during the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. Valley National Advisers Inc. lifted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 205 shares during the period. CNB Bank lifted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 572 shares during the period. Your Advocates Ltd. LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Southern in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $42,000. Finally, Atticus Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Southern by 30.4% in the 3rd quarter. Atticus Wealth Management LLC now owns 652 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 152 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Southern news, CEO Stephen E. Kuczynski sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.94, for a total value of $334,700.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 129,552 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,672,210.88. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Southern news, CEO Stephen E. Kuczynski sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.94, for a total value of $334,700.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 129,552 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,672,210.88. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Christopher Cummiskey sold 899 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.06, for a total value of $60,286.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 22,502 shares in the company, valued at $1,508,984.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 10,899 shares of company stock worth $739,587 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on SO. Scotiabank cut their target price on shares of Southern from $80.00 to $77.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. UBS Group cut Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $78.00 to $76.00 in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Bank of America lifted their target price on Southern from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Southern from $75.00 to $72.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $80.00 target price on shares of Southern in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $74.36.

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of Southern stock traded down $1.16 during trading on Friday, reaching $73.21. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 5,478,762 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,829,927. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a current ratio of 0.77. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $69.64 and its 200-day moving average price is $69.38. The firm has a market cap of $80.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.59 and a beta of 0.49. The Southern Company has a one year low of $61.56 and a one year high of $75.80.

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. Southern had a return on equity of 11.40% and a net margin of 15.79%. The firm had revenue of $6.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.90 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.26 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 14.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 3.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 6th. Investors of record on Monday, May 20th will be given a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is 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 3.93%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is 77.14%.

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.