Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC Lowers Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC decreased its stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 2.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 50,010 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,318 shares during the quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $3,588,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Scarborough Advisors LLC bought a new position in Southern in the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its holdings in Southern by 62.0% during the 1st quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 444 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 170 shares in the last quarter. BKM Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Finally, Valley National Advisers Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 63.9% in the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 526 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 205 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In other news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 9,126 shares of Southern stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 121,504 shares in the company, valued at $9,117,660.16. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 9,126 shares of Southern stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.04, for a total transaction of $684,815.04. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 121,504 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,117,660.16. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Anthony L. Wilson sold 6,900 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.61, for a total value of $535,509.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 85,309 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,620,831.49. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 28,026 shares of company stock valued at $2,151,644 in the last quarter. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have issued reports on the stock. Argus lifted their price target on shares of Southern from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 15th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $76.00 target price (up from $72.00) on shares of Southern in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Mizuho increased their price target on Southern from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Southern from $74.00 to $71.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 24th. Finally, Bank of America increased their target price on Southern from $73.00 to $79.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $76.50.

Southern Trading Down 0.1 %

SO stock traded down $0.05 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $79.94. 2,520,326 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,510,002. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $78.40 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $72.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $87.41 billion, a PE ratio of 20.67, a PEG ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.92. The Southern Company has a one year low of $61.56 and a one year high of $80.84.

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

Southern Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 6th. Investors of record on Monday, May 20th were issued a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 17th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.60%. This is a boost from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. Southern’s payout ratio is presently 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.