RWA Wealth Partners LLC Sells 5,084 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

RWA Wealth Partners LLC reduced its stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 37.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 8,614 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 5,084 shares during the period. RWA Wealth Partners LLC's holdings in Southern were worth $709,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC purchased a new position in shares of Southern in the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. YANKCOM Partnership purchased a new stake in Southern in the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. WFA Asset Management Corp raised its stake 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 acquiring an additional 197 shares in the last quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 244.4% in the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 434 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 308 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter valued at $35,000. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In other news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 106,819 shares in the company, valued at $9,946,985.28. This trade represents a 23.16 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of Southern stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.00, for a total value of $1,250,440.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,236 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,138,296. The trade was a 52.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 47,855 shares of company stock worth $4,348,784. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

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Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on the stock. Scotiabank boosted their price target on shares of Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Guggenheim lowered shares of Southern from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. UBS Group increased their price objective on Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Mizuho boosted their target price on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Southern in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $91.46.

Southern Stock Up 1.2 %

SO stock traded up $1.14 during trading on Thursday, hitting $92.44. 6,392,546 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,518,173. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.66. The stock has a market cap of $101.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46. The Southern Company has a 1 year low of $67.53 and a 1 year high of $94.45. The firm's 50 day moving average is $87.83 and its two-hundred day moving average is $87.31.

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

Southern Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were given a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.12%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. Southern's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 71.82%.

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.