Syon Capital LLC Cuts Holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Syon Capital LLC decreased its position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 18.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 5,179 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,198 shares during the period. Syon Capital LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $426,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Chelsea Counsel Co. raised its position in Southern by 22.2% in the third quarter. Chelsea Counsel Co. now owns 2,755 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $248,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares during the period. Anchor Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Southern by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 76,952 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,940,000 after purchasing an additional 347 shares during the last quarter. Sculati Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Southern by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Sculati Wealth Management LLC now owns 16,410 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,480,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the period. World Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Southern by 106.4% in the third quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 11,082 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $999,000 after purchasing an additional 5,713 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in Southern during the third quarter valued at $2,361,000. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Southern Stock Performance

NYSE:SO opened at $91.07 on Friday. The Southern Company has a twelve month low of $73.14 and a twelve month high of $94.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60. The stock has a market cap of $100.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.71, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.39. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $89.70 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $87.35.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $6.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.90 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.23% and a net margin of 16.47%. As a group, equities analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be issued a $0.74 dividend. This is a boost from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.25%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is presently 71.82%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SO has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Barclays upped their price target on Southern from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Guggenheim downgraded shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Morgan Stanley restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Southern in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $92.54.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,236 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,138,296. This trade represents a 52.35 % 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, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.61, for a total value of $100,811.25. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 102,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,148,284.90. This represents a 1.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 47,855 shares of company stock worth $4,348,784. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.