Court Place Advisors LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Court Place Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 3.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 10,779 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 373 shares during the quarter. Court Place Advisors LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $756,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of SO. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Southern in the fourth quarter valued at $435,979,000. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Southern in the fourth quarter valued at $369,131,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in Southern by 38.5% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,547,188 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $488,461,000 after acquiring an additional 2,096,988 shares in the last quarter. Imprint Wealth LLC boosted its stake in Southern by 5,840.2% in the second quarter. Imprint Wealth LLC now owns 1,949,392 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $194,939,000 after acquiring an additional 1,916,575 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its stake in Southern by 5.0% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 38,906,760 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,518,045,000 after acquiring an additional 1,838,857 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Southern

In other news, CEO Stephen E. Kuczynski sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.94, for a total transaction of $334,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 129,552 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,672,210.88. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, EVP Christopher Cummiskey sold 899 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.06, for a total transaction of $60,286.94. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 22,502 shares in the company, valued at $1,508,984.12. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Stephen E. Kuczynski sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.94, for a total transaction of $334,700.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 129,552 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,672,210.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 10,899 shares of company stock valued at $739,587 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.37% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SO has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Southern from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Southern from $75.00 to $72.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 16th. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $76.00 price objective (up previously from $72.00) on shares of Southern in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Southern from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, UBS Group downgraded shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $78.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $74.07.

Southern Stock Performance

NYSE SO traded up $2.03 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $69.80. 6,695,604 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,638,607. The company has a market cap of $76.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.27 and a beta of 0.49. The Southern Company has a 12-month low of $61.56 and a 12-month high of $75.80. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $68.79 and a 200 day moving average of $68.97. The company has a quick ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The utilities provider reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $6.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.90 billion. Southern had a net margin of 15.79% and a return on equity of 11.40%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 14.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.26 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 20th were paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 16th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.01%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 77.14%.

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.