Shelton Capital Management Sells 3,700 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Shelton Capital Management trimmed its holdings in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 15.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 20,348 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 3,700 shares during the period. Shelton Capital Management's holdings in Southern were worth $1,675,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of SO. Centiva Capital LP bought a new position in Southern during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $232,000. Quarry LP bought a new stake in Southern during the third quarter valued at $49,000. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd raised its stake in Southern by 196.2% during the third quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 7,848 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $708,000 after acquiring an additional 5,198 shares during the period. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of Southern by 64.5% during the 3rd quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 548,364 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $49,451,000 after purchasing an additional 215,029 shares during the period. Finally, Geller Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Southern by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. Geller Advisors LLC now owns 3,791 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $342,000 after purchasing an additional 171 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the business'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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 106,819 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,946,985.28. The trade was a 23.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.00, for a total transaction of $1,250,440.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 13,236 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,138,296. This represents a 52.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 47,855 shares of company stock valued at $4,348,784 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

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Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on SO. Guggenheim cut shares of Southern from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Southern from an "underweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $94.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Southern in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $92.00.

Southern Price Performance

Shares of Southern stock traded up $1.26 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $91.12. 667,888 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,544,472. The company has a market cap of $99.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.39. The Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $67.53 and a fifty-two week high of $94.45. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $88.67 and a 200 day simple moving average of $87.25.

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

Southern Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were given a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.16%. Southern's dividend payout ratio is 71.82%.

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.