EP Wealth Advisors LLC Has $27.35 Million Holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

EP Wealth Advisors LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 2.3% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 352,555 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 8,199 shares during the period. EP Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $27,348,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of SO. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Scarborough Advisors LLC bought a new position in Southern in the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its stake in shares of Southern by 62.0% in the 1st quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 444 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 170 shares during the period. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Southern by 3,628.6% in the 1st quarter. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 522 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 508 shares during the period. Finally, Richardson Financial Services Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter valued at $39,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Southern news, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of Southern 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,467 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,981,575.18. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, EVP Sloane N. Drake sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.61, for a total transaction of $931,320.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 16,771 shares in the company, valued at $1,301,597.31. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of Southern 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 directly owns 44,467 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,981,575.18. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 27,845 shares of company stock valued at $2,266,455 in the last quarter. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of SO stock opened at $90.10 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $98.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 0.52. The Southern Company has a 52 week low of $61.56 and a 52 week high of $90.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.91. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $87.06 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $79.66.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.19. Southern had a net margin of 17.67% and a return on equity of 12.88%. The firm had revenue of $6.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.10 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.79 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 19th were paid a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.20%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 19th. Southern’s payout ratio is 74.42%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have weighed in on SO shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Southern from $80.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Southern from $77.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Mizuho cut shares of Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $90.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Southern from $66.00 to $71.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price objective on Southern from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Southern currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $86.60.

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.