Richwood Investment Advisors LLC Reduces Stock Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Richwood Investment Advisors LLC lessened its position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 2.5% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 7,533 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 195 shares during the quarter. Richwood Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $620,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 24,521,339 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,203,386,000 after buying an additional 1,075,768 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,599,710 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $543,288,000 after buying an additional 194,114 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Southern in the 4th quarter valued at about $315,290,000. Synovus Financial Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 72.4% in the 3rd quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 3,077,959 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $277,570,000 after buying an additional 1,293,072 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 11.4% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 2,780,137 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $230,807,000 after buying an additional 284,022 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Southern Price Performance

Shares of Southern stock opened at $89.21 on Friday. 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 business has a 50 day simple moving average of $86.69 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $87.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $97.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.25, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46. The Southern Company has a 12 month low of $67.53 and a 12 month high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $6.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.90 billion. Southern had a net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 12.23%. As a group, analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were given 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 3.23%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 71.82%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 106,819 shares in the company, 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the 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 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. Insiders sold 47,855 shares of company stock worth $4,348,784 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SO has been the subject of several analyst reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Southern from $88.00 to $91.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday. Scotiabank upped their price target on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. UBS Group upped their price target on Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday. Mizuho upped their price target on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Guggenheim cut Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $91.46.

About Southern

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.