Blake Schutter Theil Wealth Advisors LLC Sells 4,340 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Blake Schutter Theil Wealth Advisors LLC lessened its stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 48.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,678 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 4,340 shares during the quarter. Blake Schutter Theil Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings in Southern were worth $385,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of SO. Mizuho Securities USA LLC grew its position in shares of Southern by 17,272.6% in the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 14,647,000 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,320,866,000 after purchasing an additional 14,562,689 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $315,290,000. Synovus Financial Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Southern by 72.4% during the 3rd quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 3,077,959 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $277,570,000 after acquiring an additional 1,293,072 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Southern by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 24,521,339 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $2,203,386,000 after acquiring an additional 1,075,768 shares during the period. Finally, Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH bought a new position in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter worth about $51,605,000. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Southern

In other Southern news, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the business's 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,236 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,138,296. The trade was a 52.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the firm'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 transaction, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 47,855 shares of company stock valued at $4,348,784 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

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Southern Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE SO traded down $1.38 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $88.72. The company had a trading volume of 4,535,984 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,345,376. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $85.43 and its 200-day moving average price is $87.07. The stock has a market cap of $97.31 billion, a PE ratio of 22.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46. The Southern Company has a one year low of $67.53 and a one year high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) 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 analysts' expectations of $5.90 billion. Southern had a net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 12.23%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th were paid a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.25%. Southern's payout ratio is 71.82%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on SO. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Guggenheim lowered Southern from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their price objective 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 analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Southern presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $90.54.

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.