Atria Investments Inc Sells 3,790 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Atria Investments Inc lowered its position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 3.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 121,902 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 3,790 shares during the quarter. Atria Investments Inc’s holdings in Southern were worth $10,035,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 4.6% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 24,521,339 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,203,386,000 after buying an additional 1,075,768 shares in the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 17,272.6% during the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 14,647,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,320,866,000 after buying an additional 14,562,689 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,599,710 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $543,288,000 after buying an additional 194,114 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank raised its stake in Southern by 0.5% in the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 3,245,500 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $292,679,000 after purchasing an additional 15,300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Synovus Financial Corp raised its stake in Southern by 72.4% in the third quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 3,077,959 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $277,570,000 after purchasing an additional 1,293,072 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Southern Stock Performance

NYSE:SO opened at $88.64 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $97.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $84.79 and its 200-day moving average is $86.95. The Southern Company has a 1-year low of $67.53 and a 1-year high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.51 by ($0.01). Southern had a net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 12.23%. The company had revenue of $6.34 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.90 billion. Equities research analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be issued a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.25%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. Southern’s payout ratio is presently 71.82%.

Insider Activity at Southern

In other Southern news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.61, for a total value of $100,811.25. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 102,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,148,284.90. The trade was a 1.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.00, for a total value of $1,250,440.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,236 shares in the company, valued at $1,138,296. The trade was a 52.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on SO shares. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Guggenheim cut Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Mizuho lifted their target price on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their target price on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $90.54.

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.