Private Trust Co. NA Sells 1,302 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Private Trust Co. NA trimmed its position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 5.0% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 24,546 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,302 shares during the period. Private Trust Co. NA’s holdings in Southern were worth $2,214,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Southern in a research report on Friday, September 20th. They set a “hold” rating and a $94.00 target price for the company. Barclays raised their price objective on Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Mizuho cut Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $90.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Monday, September 16th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $89.47.

Southern Price Performance

SO opened at $87.74 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $96.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.37, a PEG ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $89.73 and a 200-day moving average price of $84.79. The Southern Company has a twelve month low of $65.80 and a twelve month high of $94.45.

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

Southern Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed 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 of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.28%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 66.98%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO James Y. Kerr II sold 30,000 shares of Southern stock in a transaction on Friday, October 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.64, for a total transaction of $2,689,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 145,088 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,005,688.32. The trade was a 17.13 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of Southern stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.54, for a total value of $587,830.10. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,467 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,981,575.18. This trade represents 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.