Private Capital Management LLC Has $732,000 Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Private Capital Management LLC lessened its stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 33.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,122 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 4,000 shares during the period. Private Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $732,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new position in Southern in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Southern by 168.1% during the third 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. YANKCOM Partnership acquired a new stake in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. WFA Asset Management Corp increased its stake in shares of Southern by 84.9% in the fourth quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 429 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares during the period. Finally, Valley National Advisers Inc. lifted its position in shares of Southern by 244.4% during the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 434 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 308 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Southern Trading Down 0.3 %

SO stock opened at $88.47 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60. The firm has a market cap of $97.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.06, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.53. The Southern Company has a 1-year low of $65.99 and a 1-year high of $94.45. The business’s 50 day moving average is $84.25 and its 200-day moving average is $86.88.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 the consensus estimate of $5.90 billion. Equities analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.26%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. Southern’s payout ratio is 71.82%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on SO. Mizuho lifted their price target on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Guggenheim lowered shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on shares of Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. One equities research 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, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $90.54.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,236 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,138,296. This trade represents a 52.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 88,393 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,592,958.70. This trade represents a 1.31 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.