Colonial Trust Advisors Sells 683 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Colonial Trust Advisors cut its holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 12.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 4,838 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 683 shares during the quarter. Colonial Trust Advisors’ holdings in Southern were worth $398,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in SO. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new stake in Southern in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. YANKCOM Partnership bought a new stake in shares of Southern in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in Southern during the 4th quarter worth $35,000. WFA Asset Management Corp lifted its holdings in Southern by 84.9% during the fourth quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 429 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 197 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Valley National Advisers Inc. grew its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 308 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SO has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Southern from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $94.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Southern in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Mizuho increased their price objective on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Guggenheim lowered Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $92.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.61, for a total transaction of $100,811.25. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 102,090 shares in the company, valued at $9,148,284.90. The trade was a 1.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 106,819 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,946,985.28. This trade represents a 23.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 47,855 shares of company stock valued at $4,348,784 over the last ninety days. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of SO stock opened at $88.83 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $97.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.15, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $88.54 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $87.26. The Southern Company has a one year low of $67.53 and a one year high of $94.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.66.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted 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 return on equity of 12.23% and a net margin of 16.47%. The business had revenue of $6.34 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.90 billion. As a group, equities analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Southern Announces Dividend

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

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.