ORG Partners LLC Sells 835 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

ORG Partners LLC decreased its stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 28.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,150 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 835 shares during the period. ORG Partners LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $194,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in SO. Scarborough Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Southern in the fourth quarter worth approximately $31,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Southern in the 4th quarter valued at $39,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of Southern by 36.0% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,529,052 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $247,457,000 after purchasing an additional 934,447 shares during the last quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC purchased a new position in Southern in the 4th quarter worth $585,000. Finally, Nomura Holdings Inc. bought a new stake in Southern in the fourth quarter worth $1,547,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SO has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Southern from $87.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Southern from $83.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Southern from $78.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Guggenheim raised their price target on shares of Southern from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $89.07.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In related news, EVP Sterling A. Jr. Spainhour sold 2,380 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.99, for a total value of $211,796.20. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 12,500 shares in the company, valued at $1,112,375. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Southern news, CEO James Y. Kerr II sold 30,000 shares of Southern stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.64, for a total value 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. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Sterling A. Jr. Spainhour sold 2,380 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.99, for a total transaction of $211,796.20. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 12,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,112,375. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 38,945 shares of company stock valued at $3,488,826. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Southern Stock Up 1.0 %

SO stock opened at $90.74 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $99.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 0.52. 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 business’s 50 day moving average price is $88.46 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $81.33. The Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $64.53 and a fifty-two week high of $91.86.

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

Southern Announces Dividend

The firm 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 $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.17%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 68.57%.

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.