Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund Sells 2,893 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund lowered its position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 8.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 32,374 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 2,893 shares during the quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund’s holdings in Southern were worth $2,919,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in SO. Intech Investment Management LLC increased its position in Southern by 382.0% in the 1st quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 41,790 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,998,000 after acquiring an additional 33,120 shares during the period. Nwam LLC grew its stake in shares of Southern by 8.8% in the first quarter. Nwam LLC now owns 11,605 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $890,000 after purchasing an additional 937 shares during the last quarter. Burke & Herbert Bank & Trust Co. increased its holdings in Southern by 149.5% in the second quarter. Burke & Herbert Bank & Trust Co. now owns 16,230 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,259,000 after purchasing an additional 9,726 shares during the period. HBW Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in Southern by 219.4% during the 3rd quarter. HBW Advisory Services LLC now owns 8,971 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $809,000 after buying an additional 6,162 shares during the period. Finally, Triad Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southern in the 2nd quarter valued at about $455,000. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on SO. 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. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Southern from $77.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Southern from $83.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $89.27.

Southern Price Performance

SO opened at $87.92 on Friday. The Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $65.80 and a fifty-two week high of $94.45. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $89.85 and a 200 day moving average of $84.23. 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 firm has a market cap of $96.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.45, a PEG ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.52.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.10. Southern had a net margin of 17.87% and a return on equity of 12.78%. The company had revenue of $7.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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. On average, research analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.04 EPS for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be given a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.28%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is presently 66.98%.

Insider Activity at Southern

In other Southern news, CEO James Y. Kerr II sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 $13,005,688.32. This trade represents a 17.13 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 44,467 shares in the company, valued at $3,981,575.18. This trade represents a 12.86 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.