Continuum Advisory LLC Sells 235 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Continuum Advisory LLC reduced its position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 11.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,780 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 235 shares during the quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $147,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. YANKCOM Partnership bought a new position in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. WFA Asset Management Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 84.9% during the fourth quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 429 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 197 shares during the period. Valley National Advisers Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Southern by 244.4% in the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 434 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 308 shares during the last quarter. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter valued at about $35,000. Finally, Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp bought a new position in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter valued at about $37,000. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Southern

In other news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.12, for a total transaction of $2,997,532.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 106,819 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,946,985.28. The trade was a 23.16% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.61, for a total value of $100,811.25. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 102,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,148,284.90. The trade was a 1.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Southern Price Performance

Shares of SO stock opened at $88.80 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $89.88 and a 200 day moving average price of $87.19. 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 firm has a market cap of $97.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.14, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.40. The Southern Company has a 12 month low of $76.64 and a 12 month high of $94.45.

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

Southern Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be given a dividend of $0.74 per share. This is a positive change from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.33%. Southern’s payout ratio is presently 70.64%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Southern from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $94.00 price target for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. KeyCorp cut Southern from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $78.00 price target for the company. in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Barclays lifted their price target on Southern from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Southern from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Southern in a report on Thursday, March 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $92.21.

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.