Jackson Hole Capital Partners LLC Sells 378 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Jackson Hole Capital Partners LLC decreased its holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 5.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,306 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 378 shares during the period. Jackson Hole Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $442,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Southern by 0.4% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 99,572,665 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,444,343,000 after acquiring an additional 352,023 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Southern by 5.0% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 38,906,760 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,518,045,000 after buying an additional 1,838,857 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in Southern by 1.6% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 10,737,843 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $694,953,000 after buying an additional 163,986 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in Southern by 3.7% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 9,811,307 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $634,988,000 after buying an additional 349,122 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in Southern by 38.5% during the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,547,188 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $488,461,000 after buying an additional 2,096,988 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Southern Trading Down 1.6 %

Shares of NYSE:SO traded down $1.17 during trading on Friday, hitting $73.20. The company had a trading volume of 5,478,475 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,730,311. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.56. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $69.50 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $69.31. The Southern Company has a one year low of $61.56 and a one year high of $75.80. The stock has a market cap of $80.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.63 and a beta of 0.49.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The utilities provider reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.05. Southern had a return on equity of 11.40% and a net margin of 15.79%. The firm had revenue of $6.05 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.90 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.26 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 14.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 3.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 20th will be issued a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.93%. This is an increase from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 17th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is presently 77.14%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on SO shares. Mizuho increased their price target on Southern from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $80.00 price target on shares of Southern in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. UBS Group lowered Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $78.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Scotiabank dropped their price target on Southern from $80.00 to $77.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on Southern from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Southern presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $74.36.

Insider Transactions at Southern

In other Southern news, EVP Christopher Cummiskey sold 899 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.06, for a total transaction of $60,286.94. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 22,502 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,508,984.12. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Southern news, EVP Christopher Cummiskey sold 899 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.06, for a total transaction of $60,286.94. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 22,502 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,508,984.12. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Stephen E. Kuczynski sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.92, for a total value of $344,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 126,528 shares in the company, valued at $8,720,309.76. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 10,899 shares of company stock worth $739,587. 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.