Eventide Asset Management LLC Sells 29,472 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Eventide Asset Management LLC trimmed its holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 10.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 261,941 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 29,472 shares during the quarter. Eventide Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $23,622,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Southern by 168.1% during the 3rd quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC now owns 311 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 195 shares during the period. TruNorth Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Southern in the second quarter worth approximately $39,000. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its position in shares of Southern by 31.8% during the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 585 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 141 shares during the period. West Branch Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Southern by 34.7% in the 3rd quarter. West Branch Capital LLC now owns 501 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $45,000 after buying an additional 129 shares during the period. Finally, Friedenthal Financial purchased a new stake in Southern in the 2nd quarter worth $52,000. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Southern

In other Southern news, CEO James Y. Kerr II sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.64, for a total value of $2,689,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 145,088 shares in the company, valued at $13,005,688.32. This represents a 17.13 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of Southern stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.54, for a total transaction of $587,830.10. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,467 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,981,575.18. This represents a 12.86 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Southern from $77.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Southern from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Barclays raised their price objective on Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Wolfe Research downgraded Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. One 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, Southern has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $89.47.

Southern Price Performance

NYSE:SO opened at $89.74 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $98.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.87, a PEG ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.66. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $89.73 and a 200-day simple moving average of $85.00. The Southern Company has a 1 year low of $65.80 and a 1 year high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $7.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.14 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.78% and a net margin of 17.87%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.42 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.03 EPS for the current year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be issued a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 66.98%.

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.