King Wealth Management Group Reduces Stock Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

King Wealth Management Group reduced its holdings in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,583 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 126 shares during the quarter. King Wealth Management Group’s holdings in Southern were worth $323,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Cedar Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Southern by 63.2% in the 1st quarter. Cedar Wealth Management LLC now owns 545 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 211 shares during the last quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Southern in the second quarter valued at about $39,000. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its stake in Southern by 31.8% during the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 585 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 141 shares in the last quarter. West Branch Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Southern by 34.7% during the 3rd quarter. West Branch Capital LLC now owns 501 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $45,000 after buying an additional 129 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Evermay Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Southern by 120.1% in the 1st quarter. Evermay Wealth Management LLC now owns 678 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $49,000 after acquiring an additional 370 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Southern Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE:SO opened at $86.78 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $95.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.18, a PEG ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.52. The Southern Company has a 1-year low of $65.80 and a 1-year high of $94.45. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $89.91 and a 200 day moving average price of $84.12.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $7.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.14 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.78% and a net margin of 17.87%. Southern’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.42 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 4.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be given a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.32%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th. Southern’s payout ratio is 66.98%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Guggenheim raised their price objective on Southern from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Southern from $78.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on shares of Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Wolfe Research downgraded Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Southern has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $89.27.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In other news, CEO James Y. Kerr II sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.64, for a total transaction of $2,689,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 145,088 shares in the company, valued at $13,005,688.32. The trade was a 17.13 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.54, for a total value of $587,830.10. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 44,467 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,981,575.18. This represents a 12.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.