Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS Sells 7,861 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS trimmed its position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 0.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,075,518 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 7,861 shares during the quarter. Southern accounts for 1.1% of Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS's portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest position. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS owned about 0.19% of Southern worth $170,857,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new position in Southern during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. YANKCOM Partnership bought a new position in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. WFA Asset Management Corp lifted its position in shares of Southern by 84.9% during the fourth quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 429 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares in the last quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. lifted its position in Southern by 244.4% during the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 434 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 308 shares during the period. Finally, Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter worth approximately $35,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company's stock.

Remove Ads

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on SO. Guggenheim cut shares of Southern from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Southern from $88.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday. Mizuho upped their price objective on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. UBS Group raised their target price on Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Scotiabank upped their price target on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Southern has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $91.46.

Southern Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:SO traded down $0.51 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $88.85. 3,640,983 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,310,333. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $86.83 and its 200-day simple moving average is $87.23. The Southern Company has a one year low of $67.53 and a one year high of $94.45. The company has a market cap of $97.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.16, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.51 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $6.34 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.90 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.23% and a net margin of 16.47%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.24%. Southern's dividend payout ratio is 71.82%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.00, for a total value of $1,250,440.00. Following the completion of 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.61, for a total transaction of $100,811.25. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 102,090 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,148,284.90. The trade was a 1.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 47,855 shares of company stock worth $4,348,784 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

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.