Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. Sells 5,890 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. lessened its stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 2.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 223,768 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 5,890 shares during the period. Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $18,421,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Southern by 14.3% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,380,841 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $184,694,000 after purchasing an additional 297,012 shares during the last quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. boosted its position in shares of Southern by 35.6% during the second quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 751 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $58,000 after buying an additional 197 shares during the last quarter. Ieq Capital LLC raised its position in Southern by 7.3% in the 2nd quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 75,059 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,822,000 after buying an additional 5,109 shares during the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. lifted its stake in Southern by 116.3% during the 2nd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 7,008 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $544,000 after acquiring an additional 3,768 shares during the period. Finally, Bridges Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Southern by 6.9% in the second quarter. Bridges Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,625 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $359,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on SO. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Guggenheim lifted their target price on Southern from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Southern in a research note on Friday, September 20th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $94.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Scotiabank increased their target price on shares of Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. One research 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $90.14.

Insider Activity at Southern

In other news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.90, for a total transaction of $100,503.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 88,393 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,592,958.70. This represents a 1.31 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Southern Trading Up 0.0 %

Southern stock opened at $83.92 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.66. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $84.70 and its 200-day moving average price is $86.19. The Southern Company has a 1 year low of $65.80 and a 1 year high of $94.45. The stock has a market cap of $91.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.52, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.52.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $7.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.14 billion. Southern had a net margin of 17.87% and a return on equity of 12.78%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.42 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.