Pathstone Holdings LLC Sells 26,345 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Pathstone Holdings LLC cut its holdings in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 16.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 129,210 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 26,345 shares during the period. Pathstone Holdings LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $11,652,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of SO. Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Southern by 1,361.6% during the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 3,201 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $229,000 after purchasing an additional 2,982 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its holdings in Southern by 241.7% during the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 44,240 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,173,000 after acquiring an additional 31,292 shares during the last quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Southern by 31.5% in the first quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC now owns 6,093 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $437,000 after purchasing an additional 1,459 shares during the last quarter. Pitcairn Co. increased its holdings in Southern by 23.1% in the first quarter. Pitcairn Co. now owns 4,695 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $337,000 after purchasing an additional 881 shares during the period. Finally, Shell Asset Management Co. raised its position in Southern by 20.3% during the 1st quarter. Shell Asset Management Co. now owns 22,641 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,624,000 after purchasing an additional 3,816 shares during the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Southern news, CEO James Y. Kerr II sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, October 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.64, for a total transaction of $2,689,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 145,088 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,005,688.32. This represents a 17.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.54, for a total value of $587,830.10. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,467 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,981,575.18. This trade represents a 12.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have commented on SO shares. Scotiabank upped their price target on Southern from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Southern from $78.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Southern from $80.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. Mizuho cut shares of Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $90.00 price target for the company. in a report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. One 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $89.27.

Southern Stock Performance

NYSE SO opened at $87.97 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $89.78 and a 200-day moving average price of $84.57. The firm has a market cap of $96.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.46, a PEG ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.66. The Southern Company has a 1 year low of $65.80 and a 1 year high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.10. Southern had a net margin of 17.87% and a return on equity of 12.78%. The business had revenue of $7.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.14 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.42 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.27%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 66.98%.

Southern Company 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.