Rafferty Asset Management LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Rafferty Asset Management LLC trimmed its position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 2.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 123,011 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 2,985 shares during the quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $10,126,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC purchased a new position in shares of Southern in the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. YANKCOM Partnership purchased a new position in shares of Southern in the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Southern in the 4th quarter worth about $35,000. WFA Asset Management Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Southern by 84.9% in the 4th quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 429 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 197 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Valley National Advisers Inc. raised its stake in Southern by 244.4% in the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 434 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 308 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Guggenheim restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $93.00 price objective on shares of Southern in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Mizuho boosted their price objective on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on Southern from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Southern from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $94.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Southern in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $92.21.

Southern Trading Up 1.5%

Shares of SO opened at $88.72 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $89.90 and its 200-day moving average price is $87.18. The stock has a market cap of $97.50 billion, a PE ratio of 22.12, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.40. The Southern Company has a twelve month low of $76.64 and a twelve month high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.23 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $7.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.17 billion. Southern had a net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 12.23%. Southern’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.03 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th will be given a $0.74 dividend. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.34%. This is a boost from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is 70.64%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Southern news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.12, for a total value of $2,997,532.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 106,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,946,985.28. This represents a 23.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was 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 directly owns 102,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,148,284.90. This represents a 1.09% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.16% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Southern Company 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.