McIlrath & Eck LLC Lowers Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

McIlrath & Eck LLC lowered its stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 23.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,105 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 337 shares during the period. McIlrath & Eck LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $100,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in SO. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in Southern by 168.1% during the 3rd quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC now owns 311 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 195 shares in the last quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Southern during the second quarter worth approximately $39,000. West Branch Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Southern by 34.7% in the third quarter. West Branch Capital LLC now owns 501 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $45,000 after acquiring an additional 129 shares in the last quarter. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in shares of Southern in the 3rd quarter valued at $49,000. Finally, Quarry LP acquired a new position in shares of Southern during the 3rd quarter valued at $49,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. Scotiabank increased their price target on Southern from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Mizuho lowered Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $90.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Monday, September 16th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. UBS Group upped their price target on Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Southern from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $90.00.

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of SO stock opened at $84.39 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $92.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.63, a PEG ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.51. The Southern Company has a one year low of $65.80 and a one year high of $94.45. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $89.25 and its 200-day simple moving average is $85.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.91.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.10. Southern had a return on equity of 12.78% and a net margin of 17.87%. The company had revenue of $7.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.14 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.42 EPS. Southern’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 4.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th were paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 18th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.41%. Southern’s payout ratio is 66.98%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Southern news, CEO James Y. Kerr II sold 30,000 shares of Southern stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 4th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $13,005,688.32. The trade was a 17.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.90, for a total value of $100,503.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 88,393 shares in the company, valued at $7,592,958.70. The trade was a 1.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is 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.