Fulton Breakefield Broenniman LLC Has $239,000 Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Fulton Breakefield Broenniman LLC lessened its stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 7.9% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 3,403 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 290 shares during the quarter. Fulton Breakefield Broenniman LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $239,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Southern by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 99,572,665 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $6,444,343,000 after purchasing an additional 352,023 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its stake in Southern by 5.0% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 38,906,760 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,518,045,000 after purchasing an additional 1,838,857 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in Southern by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 10,737,843 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $694,953,000 after purchasing an additional 163,986 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its stake in Southern by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 9,811,307 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $634,988,000 after purchasing an additional 349,122 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in Southern by 38.5% during the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,547,188 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $488,461,000 after purchasing an additional 2,096,988 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Southern Price Performance

Shares of Southern stock traded down $1.16 on Friday, reaching $73.21. The stock had a trading volume of 5,478,762 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,829,927. The Southern Company has a 1 year low of $61.56 and a 1 year high of $75.80. The company has a market cap of $80.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.66 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62. The business’s 50 day moving average is $69.64 and its two-hundred day moving average is $69.36.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The utilities provider reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $6.05 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.90 billion. Southern had a net margin of 15.79% and a return on equity of 11.40%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 14.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.26 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 3.99 EPS for the current year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 6th. Investors of record on Monday, May 20th will be given a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.93%. This is a boost from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 17th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is 77.14%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Christopher Cummiskey sold 899 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.06, for a total value of $60,286.94. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 22,502 shares in the company, valued at $1,508,984.12. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Southern news, EVP Christopher Cummiskey sold 899 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.06, for a total transaction of $60,286.94. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 22,502 shares in the company, valued at $1,508,984.12. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Stephen E. Kuczynski sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.92, for a total transaction of $344,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 126,528 shares in the company, valued at $8,720,309.76. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 10,899 shares of company stock worth $739,587. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and set a $76.00 price target (up previously from $72.00) on shares of Southern in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Southern from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Southern from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Southern from $75.00 to $72.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Finally, UBS Group lowered shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $78.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $74.36.

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.