The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Shares Sold by Sage Mountain Advisors LLC

Sage Mountain Advisors LLC lessened its stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 31.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,684 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,652 shares during the period. Sage Mountain Advisors LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $303,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Financial Enhancement Group LLC acquired a new stake in Southern in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $326,000. OneAscent Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Southern in the third quarter worth $576,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Southern by 5.4% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 108,361 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $9,772,000 after acquiring an additional 5,589 shares in the last quarter. Verity & Verity LLC grew its stake in shares of Southern by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Verity & Verity LLC now owns 201,971 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $16,626,000 after acquiring an additional 5,434 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Southern by 94.4% in the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 288,679 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $26,033,000 after acquiring an additional 140,151 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Mizuho boosted their price target on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Guggenheim downgraded shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $90.54.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The shares were 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 directly owns 106,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,236 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,138,296. The trade was a 52.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 47,855 shares of company stock valued at $4,348,784. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Southern Price Performance

Shares of SO opened at $88.72 on Thursday. The Southern Company has a 1-year low of $67.53 and a 1-year high of $94.45. The stock has a market cap of $97.31 billion, a PE ratio of 22.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46. 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 firm has a fifty day moving average price of $85.56 and a 200 day moving average price of $87.08.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 earnings per share 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.90 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were issued a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.25%. Southern’s payout ratio is 71.82%.

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.