CFS Investment Advisory Services LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

CFS Investment Advisory Services LLC reduced its position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 50.1% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,715 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 11,741 shares during the period. CFS Investment Advisory Services LLC's holdings in Southern were worth $1,056,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in SO. Vista Capital Partners Inc. grew its position in Southern by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Vista Capital Partners Inc. now owns 8,743 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $678,000 after purchasing an additional 118 shares during the period. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. grew its position in Southern by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. now owns 3,246 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $293,000 after purchasing an additional 119 shares during the period. DT Investment Partners LLC grew its position in Southern by 5.8% during the 3rd quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC now owns 2,201 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $198,000 after purchasing an additional 121 shares during the period. Birchcreek Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Southern by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. Birchcreek Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,836 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $256,000 after purchasing an additional 121 shares during the period. Finally, Modera Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Southern by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Modera Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,048 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $702,000 after purchasing an additional 124 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on SO. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on Southern in a research report on Friday, September 20th. They set a "hold" rating and a $94.00 price target on the stock. Barclays raised their target price on Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Mizuho cut Southern from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $90.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Finally, Wolfe Research cut Southern from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $89.47.

Southern Price Performance

Southern stock traded down $0.54 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $87.60. The company had a trading volume of 3,440,105 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,703,513. The company has a market capitalization of $95.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.37, a P/E/G ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 0.52. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $89.73 and its 200-day simple moving average is $84.74. The Southern Company has a 12-month low of $65.80 and a 12-month high of $94.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.66.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $7.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $7.14 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.78% and a net margin of 17.87%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.42 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 4.04 EPS for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th will be issued a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.29%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th. Southern's dividend payout ratio is presently 66.98%.

Insider Activity at Southern

In related news, CEO James Y. Kerr II sold 30,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.64, for a total value of $2,689,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 145,088 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,005,688.32. This represents a 17.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.54, for a total value of $587,830.10. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,467 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,981,575.18. The trade was a 12.86 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 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.