Blueprint Investment Partners LLC Sells 250 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Blueprint Investment Partners LLC decreased its stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 7.9% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 2,929 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 250 shares during the quarter. Blueprint Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $241,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in SO. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in Southern in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. YANKCOM Partnership bought a new stake in Southern in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. WFA Asset Management Corp lifted its position in shares of Southern by 84.9% in the fourth quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 429 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 197 shares during the last quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Southern by 244.4% during the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 434 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 308 shares during the period. Finally, Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new position in Southern during the fourth quarter worth $35,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have weighed in on SO shares. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Guggenheim lowered Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Southern from $88.00 to $91.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Scotiabank upped their price target 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 investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $91.46.

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of SO opened at $89.21 on Monday. 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 firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $86.69 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $87.24. The Southern Company has a 12 month low of $67.53 and a 12 month high of $94.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $97.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 12.23% and a net margin of 16.47%. The company had revenue of $6.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.90 billion. As a group, analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th were issued a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.23%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is currently 71.82%.

Insider Activity at Southern

In other news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the firm’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 owns 102,090 shares in the company, valued at $9,148,284.90. This trade represents a 1.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.00, for a total transaction of $1,250,440.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 13,236 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,138,296. The trade was a 52.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 47,855 shares of company stock valued at $4,348,784. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Southern

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.