The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Shares Sold by Alerus Financial NA

Alerus Financial NA trimmed its stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 9.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 119,026 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 11,776 shares during the quarter. Southern accounts for about 0.8% of Alerus Financial NA's holdings, making the stock its 22nd largest position. Alerus Financial NA's holdings in Southern were worth $10,734,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale raised its holdings in shares of Southern by 13.8% in the 1st quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 179,464 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $12,709,000 after acquiring an additional 21,743 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Southern by 68.9% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 13,208 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,025,000 after purchasing an additional 5,389 shares in the last quarter. Beese Fulmer Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Southern by 15.3% during the second quarter. Beese Fulmer Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,885 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $379,000 after purchasing an additional 650 shares during the last quarter. HBW Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in Southern in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $218,000. Finally, Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. bought a new position in shares of Southern in the 2nd quarter worth $76,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on SO. UBS Group raised their price objective on Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Southern from $80.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Southern from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of Southern from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $89.47.

Southern Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of SO traded down $0.61 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $89.13. The company had a trading volume of 2,363,970 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,098,644. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.91. The company has a market capitalization of $97.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 0.52. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $89.72 and a 200 day moving average price of $85.12. The Southern Company has a 52 week low of $65.80 and a 52 week high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $7.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.14 billion. Southern had a net margin of 17.87% and a return on equity of 12.78%. Southern's revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.42 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.03 EPS for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.23%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th. Southern's dividend payout ratio is currently 66.98%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO James Y. Kerr II sold 30,000 shares of the business'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 transaction of $2,689,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 145,088 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $13,005,688.32. The trade was a 17.13 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of Southern stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 44,467 shares in the company, valued at $3,981,575.18. This represents a 12.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

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.