Corient Private Wealth LLC Has $20.38 Million Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Corient Private Wealth LLC lowered its holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 10.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 250,083 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 29,017 shares during the period. Corient Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $20,381,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new stake in shares of Southern during the third quarter worth $302,000. Empowered Funds LLC increased its holdings in Southern by 4.1% in the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 23,042 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,078,000 after purchasing an additional 915 shares during the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC bought a new stake in Southern in the third quarter valued at about $2,046,000. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. increased its holdings in Southern by 1.5% in the third quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. now owns 20,236 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,825,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Aviance Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in Southern by 10.8% in the third quarter. Aviance Capital Partners LLC now owns 8,292 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $748,000 after purchasing an additional 805 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Southern Stock Down 0.4 %

SO stock opened at $90.22 on Wednesday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $98.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.50, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46. The business has a 50-day moving average of $86.26 and a 200-day moving average of $87.21. The Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $67.53 and a fifty-two week high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.51 by ($0.01). Southern had a net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 12.23%. The company had revenue of $6.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.90 billion. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th were given a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.19%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 71.82%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SO has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Scotiabank upped their price objective on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Guggenheim cut Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Mizuho boosted their target price on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Southern currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $90.54.

Insider Activity at Southern

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