Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc. Buys 385 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc. grew its stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 9.5% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 4,435 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 385 shares during the period. Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $365,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its position in Southern by 5.4% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 108,361 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $9,772,000 after acquiring an additional 5,589 shares during the last quarter. Avestar Capital LLC grew its holdings in Southern by 6.2% during the 3rd quarter. Avestar Capital LLC now owns 5,706 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $515,000 after purchasing an additional 332 shares during the last quarter. Principal Street Partners LLC bought a new stake in Southern in the third quarter worth about $290,000. Cadence Bank boosted its position in shares of Southern by 2.8% during the third quarter. Cadence Bank now owns 15,595 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,406,000 after buying an additional 430 shares during the period. Finally, Townsquare Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Southern by 40.8% during the third quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 26,530 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,392,000 after buying an additional 7,694 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SO has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group raised their price target on Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Southern in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Scotiabank increased their price target on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Guggenheim cut shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $91.46.

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of SO stock opened at $89.00 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60. The company has a market cap of $97.61 billion, a PE ratio of 22.19, 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. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $87.07 and its 200-day simple moving average is $87.24.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 EPS 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 business had revenue of $6.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.90 billion. Analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.24%. Southern’s payout ratio is 71.82%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 owns 106,819 shares in the company, valued at $9,946,985.28. This trade represents a 23.16 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.61, for a total value of $100,811.25. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 102,090 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,148,284.90. The trade was a 1.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 47,855 shares of company stock valued at $4,348,784. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.