Birmingham Capital Management Co. Inc. AL Trims Stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Birmingham Capital Management Co. Inc. AL cut its stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 50,675 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 725 shares during the period. Southern comprises approximately 1.7% of Birmingham Capital Management Co. Inc. AL’s portfolio, making the stock its 23rd largest position. Birmingham Capital Management Co. Inc. AL’s holdings in Southern were worth $4,570,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of SO. Old North State Trust LLC increased its stake in shares of Southern by 0.6% in the third quarter. Old North State Trust LLC now owns 22,300 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,011,000 after buying an additional 144 shares during the period. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp raised its holdings in Southern by 4.2% in the third quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp now owns 39,087 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,526,000 after purchasing an additional 1,568 shares in the last quarter. Synovus Financial Corp lifted its position in Southern by 72.4% during the third quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 3,077,959 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $277,570,000 after buying an additional 1,293,072 shares during the period. Tidal Investments LLC grew its position in shares of Southern by 60.7% in the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 23,813 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,147,000 after buying an additional 8,996 shares during the period. Finally, Destination Wealth Management bought a new position in shares of Southern in the 3rd quarter worth about $478,000. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In other Southern news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of Southern stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.90, for a total transaction of $100,503.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 88,393 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,592,958.70. The trade was a 1.31 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO James Y. Kerr II sold 30,000 shares of the 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 completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Southern Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:SO traded down $0.53 during trading on Friday, hitting $82.84. The company had a trading volume of 244,653 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,399,038. The Southern Company has a one year low of $65.80 and a one year high of $94.45. The stock has a market cap of $90.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 0.51. 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 company has a fifty day simple moving average of $88.80 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $85.47.

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

Southern Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 6th. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th were issued a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 18th. Southern’s payout ratio is 66.98%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SO has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Southern from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Southern in a research note on Friday, September 20th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $94.00 price target on the stock. Guggenheim raised their price objective on shares of Southern from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $90.14.

About Southern

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.