Gradient Investments LLC Has $935,000 Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Gradient Investments LLC lowered its position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO – Get Rating) by 3.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 13,095 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 415 shares during the quarter. Gradient Investments LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $935,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Chilton Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southern during the 2nd quarter worth about $25,000. Karp Capital Management Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Southern during the 3rd quarter worth about $40,000. First Personal Financial Services acquired a new stake in shares of Southern during the 3rd quarter worth about $41,000. Worth Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Southern by 1,944.4% during the 3rd quarter. Worth Asset Management LLC now owns 736 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $50,000 after buying an additional 700 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Southern by 26.9% during the 3rd quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. now owns 943 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $64,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 61.78% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on SO. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on shares of Southern from $79.00 to $78.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 2nd. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Southern from $68.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 16th. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Southern to $80.00 in a research report on Monday, November 21st. Credit Suisse Group raised their price target on shares of Southern from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 18th. Finally, StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Southern in a research report on Thursday. They set a “sell” rating on the stock. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $71.93.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Christopher Cummiskey sold 1,282 shares of Southern stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.60, for a total transaction of $85,381.20. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 27,512 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,832,299.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, EVP Christopher Cummiskey sold 1,282 shares of Southern stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.60, for a total transaction of $85,381.20. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 27,512 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,832,299.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Stephen E. Kuczynski sold 14,546 shares of Southern stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.95, for a total transaction of $1,032,038.70. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 120,786 shares in the company, valued at $8,569,766.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 16,680 shares of company stock worth $1,174,768 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.37% of the company’s stock.

Southern Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of Southern stock opened at $67.90 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $73.94 billion, a PE ratio of 20.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.71 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $66.86 and its 200 day moving average is $68.60. The Southern Company has a 1 year low of $58.85 and a 1 year high of $80.57.

Southern (NYSE:SO – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 16th. The utilities provider reported $0.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.24 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $7.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.83 billion. Southern had a net margin of 12.40% and a return on equity of 11.73%. The firm’s revenue was up 22.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.36 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 3.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 21st were given a dividend of $0.68 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 17th. This represents a $2.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.01%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is presently 82.93%.

About Southern

(Get Rating)

The Southern Co is a holding company, which engages in the generation and sale of electricity. It operates through the following segments: Traditional Electric Operating Companies, Southern Power and Southern Company Gas. The Traditional Electric Operating Companies segment refers to vertically integrated utilities that own generation, transmission and distribution facilities, and supplies electric services in the states of Alabama, Georgia, Florida, and Mississippi.