Assetmark Inc. Sells 1,839 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Assetmark Inc. trimmed its position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 11.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 14,839 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,839 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $1,338,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 4.9% in the first quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 27,957 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,006,000 after buying an additional 1,298 shares in the last quarter. Blair William & Co. IL boosted its holdings in shares of Southern by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 91,898 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $6,593,000 after purchasing an additional 1,415 shares during the last quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC grew its position in shares of Southern by 8.5% during the first quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 4,098 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $294,000 after purchasing an additional 321 shares in the last quarter. Nwam LLC lifted its position in shares of Southern by 8.8% in the first quarter. Nwam LLC now owns 11,605 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $890,000 after buying an additional 937 shares in the last quarter. Finally, M&G Plc bought a new position in Southern during the first quarter valued at approximately $5,648,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have issued reports on SO shares. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Southern from $78.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Guggenheim upped their price target on shares of Southern from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on shares of Southern from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Southern from $77.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $89.27.

Southern Stock Performance

SO stock opened at $86.78 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $95.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.35, a PEG ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 0.52. The Southern Company has a twelve month low of $65.80 and a twelve month high of $94.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $89.91 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $84.12.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $7.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.14 billion. Southern had a net margin of 17.87% and a return on equity of 12.78%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.42 EPS. Analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4.04 earnings per share for the current 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 issued a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.32%. Southern’s payout ratio is currently 66.98%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In related news, CEO James Y. Kerr II sold 30,000 shares of Southern stock in a transaction that occurred 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $13,005,688.32. This trade represents a 17.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of the company’s 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.