Axxcess Wealth Management LLC Sells 606 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Axxcess Wealth Management LLC reduced its stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 3.5% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 16,858 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 606 shares during the quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $1,388,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of SO. GSA Capital Partners LLP purchased a new stake in Southern in the 3rd quarter worth $302,000. Empowered Funds LLC increased its stake in Southern by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 23,042 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,078,000 after buying an additional 915 shares in the last quarter. Aviance Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in Southern by 10.8% in the 3rd quarter. Aviance Capital Partners LLC now owns 8,292 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $748,000 after buying an additional 805 shares in the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC increased its stake in Southern by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 25,601 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,309,000 after buying an additional 1,215 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Southern by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 9,942 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $897,000 after buying an additional 161 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Mizuho raised their price objective on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Guggenheim lowered Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $90.54.

Southern Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE SO opened at $89.65 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.66. The company has a market cap of $98.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.36, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46. The Southern Company has a 1 year low of $67.53 and a 1 year high of $94.45. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $86.39 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $87.22.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.51 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $6.34 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.90 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.23% and a net margin of 16.47%. Research analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is presently 71.82%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of Southern stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.61, for a total transaction of $100,811.25. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 102,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,148,284.90. The trade was a 1.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of Southern stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.00, for a total transaction of $1,250,440.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,236 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,138,296. This represents a 52.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 47,855 shares of company stock valued at $4,348,784. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.