First National Corp MA ADV Sells 134 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

First National Corp MA ADV lowered its stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 1.5% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 8,704 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 134 shares during the quarter. First National Corp MA ADV’s holdings in Southern were worth $800,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of SO. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Southern by 19.9% in the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 121,904 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $10,035,000 after purchasing an additional 20,201 shares during the period. Robertson Stephens Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Southern by 49.2% in the 4th quarter. Robertson Stephens Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,963 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $738,000 after purchasing an additional 2,957 shares during the period. YANKCOM Partnership bought a new stake in Southern during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated raised its stake in Southern by 20.8% during the 4th quarter. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated now owns 14,931 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,230,000 after acquiring an additional 2,572 shares during the period. Finally, Telos Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Southern by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Telos Capital Management Inc. now owns 68,055 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,602,000 after acquiring an additional 1,365 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Southern Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of SO opened at $88.26 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.66. The Southern Company has a 1 year low of $76.96 and a 1 year high of $94.45. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $89.70 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $87.29. The firm has a market cap of $97.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.38.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.03. Southern had a net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 12.23%. The firm had revenue of $7.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.17 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.03 earnings per share. Southern’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th were issued a $0.74 dividend. This is a positive change from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.35%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 70.64%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on SO shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Southern from $95.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Morgan Stanley restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Southern in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Southern from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $94.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Guggenheim restated a “neutral” rating and set a $93.00 target price on shares of Southern in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, KeyCorp cut shares of Southern from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $78.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Southern presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $92.64.

Insider Activity at Southern

In related news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.12, for a total value of $2,997,532.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 106,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,946,985.28. This trade represents a 23.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by 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.