Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC Sells 19,222 Shares of Southern Company (The) $SO

Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC trimmed its stake in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 3.3% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 565,454 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 19,222 shares during the period. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $53,588,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Cloud Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southern in the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. Grey Fox Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southern during the 3rd quarter worth about $29,000. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. bought a new position in Southern during the 3rd quarter valued at about $34,000. Chilton Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Southern by 120.1% during the 3rd quarter. Chilton Capital Management LLC now owns 361 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd acquired a new position in Southern in the third quarter valued at about $35,000. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on SO shares. Scotiabank raised their target price on Southern from $101.00 to $103.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $105.00 price target on shares of Southern in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Southern from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, December 6th. Mizuho set a $104.00 price objective on shares of Southern and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Finally, Evercore raised shares of Southern from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $111.00 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $98.08.

Southern Trading Up 0.2%

SO stock opened at $98.06 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69. Southern Company has a twelve month low of $83.09 and a twelve month high of $100.83. The company has a market cap of $107.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.95, a PEG ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 0.44. The business has a fifty day moving average of $91.79 and a 200-day moving average of $91.57.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The utilities provider reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.56 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $6.98 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.41 billion. Southern had a net margin of 14.69% and a return on equity of 12.52%. Southern’s revenue was up 10.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.50 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 17th were paid a $0.74 dividend. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 17th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 75.32%.

About Southern

Southern Company (NYSE: SO) is an Atlanta-based energy holding company that provides electric and gas utility services and owns power generation assets across the United States. Founded in 1945, the company operates a portfolio of regulated electric utilities and affiliated businesses that generate, transmit and distribute electricity to residential, commercial and industrial customers.

Southern’s principal regulated electric subsidiaries include Georgia Power, Alabama Power and Mississippi Power, which serve large portions of the southeastern United States.