The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Shares Sold by Bangor Savings Bank

Bangor Savings Bank reduced its holdings in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 5.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 20,428 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,094 shares during the period. Bangor Savings Bank’s holdings in Southern were worth $1,878,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vest Financial LLC boosted its stake in shares of Southern by 42.6% in the fourth quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 15,470 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,273,000 after buying an additional 4,625 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Southern by 56.6% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,547 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $292,000 after buying an additional 1,282 shares during the last quarter. Values First Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Southern by 83.7% in the fourth quarter. Values First Advisors Inc. now owns 6,646 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $547,000 after buying an additional 3,029 shares during the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Southern by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 398,624 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $32,815,000 after buying an additional 15,923 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Platform Technology Partners boosted its stake in shares of Southern by 8.7% in the fourth quarter. Platform Technology Partners now owns 3,727 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $307,000 after buying an additional 299 shares during the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SO has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. KeyCorp downgraded 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. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Southern from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $102.00 to $100.00 in a research note on Thursday. UBS Group upped their price target on Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Southern in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on Southern from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $92.64.

Insider Activity at Southern

In related news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $9,946,985.28. This represents a 23.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Southern Price Performance

Shares of Southern stock opened at $88.26 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $89.70 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $87.28. The Southern Company has a 12 month low of $76.96 and a 12 month high of $94.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $97.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.01, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.66.

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

Southern Increases Dividend

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

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.