Janus Henderson Group PLC Sells 48,964 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Janus Henderson Group PLC trimmed its position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 25.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 143,816 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 48,964 shares during the quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $10,317,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Cornell Pochily Investment Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Southern by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. Cornell Pochily Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 16,141 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,158,000 after buying an additional 144 shares during the last quarter. CNB Bank grew its position in shares of Southern by 23.9% during the 4th quarter. CNB Bank now owns 778 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $55,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. Guardian Wealth Advisors LLC NC grew its position in shares of Southern by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Guardian Wealth Advisors LLC NC now owns 11,767 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $825,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. Twin Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Southern by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Twin Capital Management Inc. now owns 12,018 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $843,000 after purchasing an additional 152 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Thrive Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Southern by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. Thrive Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,574 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $543,000 after purchasing an additional 154 shares in the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Southern Price Performance

SO stock opened at $87.57 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $79.52 and a 200-day moving average price of $73.90. The company has a market capitalization of $95.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.63, a PEG ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.51. The Southern Company has a 52-week low of $61.56 and a 52-week high of $87.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.92.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The utilities provider reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $6.65 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.59 billion. Southern had a net margin of 16.74% and a return on equity of 12.07%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.79 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.01 EPS for the current year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 6th. Investors of record on Monday, August 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 19th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is presently 74.42%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SO has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Scotiabank decreased their target price on shares of Southern from $80.00 to $77.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Friday. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Southern from $66.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Southern from $73.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Finally, UBS Group downgraded shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $78.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Southern presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $76.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Anthony L. Wilson sold 6,900 shares of Southern stock in a transaction on Friday, July 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.61, for a total transaction of $535,509.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 85,309 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,620,831.49. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other Southern news, EVP Sloane N. Drake sold 12,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.61, for a total value of $931,320.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,771 shares in the company, valued at $1,301,597.31. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Anthony L. Wilson sold 6,900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.61, for a total transaction of $535,509.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 85,309 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,620,831.49. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is owned by 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.