RS Crum Inc. Trims Stock Holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

RS Crum Inc. lessened its stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 11,771 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 400 shares during the quarter. RS Crum Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $1,062,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Mizuho Securities USA LLC grew its position in Southern by 17,272.6% in the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 14,647,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,320,866,000 after acquiring an additional 14,562,689 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Southern by 8,741.6% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,502,813 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $135,524,000 after purchasing an additional 1,485,816 shares during the period. 1832 Asset Management L.P. grew its holdings in shares of Southern by 2,719.7% in the second quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 872,373 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $67,670,000 after purchasing an additional 841,435 shares in the last quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. increased its stake in Southern by 7,657.0% during the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 571,148 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $44,304,000 after buying an additional 563,785 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James & Associates lifted its holdings in Southern by 21.3% during the 2nd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 2,572,230 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $199,528,000 after buying an additional 452,075 shares in the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on SO. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Scotiabank increased their price target on Southern from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Guggenheim boosted their price objective on Southern from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Wolfe Research cut shares of Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Southern from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Southern presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $89.47.

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of SO stock opened at $89.33 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $89.70 and its two-hundred day moving average is $84.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.91. The Southern Company has a 1 year low of $65.80 and a 1 year high of $94.45. The firm has a market cap of $97.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.77, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 0.52.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.10. Southern had a return on equity of 12.78% and a net margin of 17.87%. The firm had revenue of $7.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.14 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.42 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th will be given a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.22%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 66.98%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Southern news, CEO James Y. Kerr II sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.64, for a total transaction of $2,689,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 145,088 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,005,688.32. The trade was a 17.13 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.54, for a total value of $587,830.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 44,467 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,981,575.18. The trade was a 12.86 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company 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.