United Community Bank Decreases Holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

United Community Bank lessened its holdings in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 81.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,998 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 22,326 shares during the quarter. United Community Bank's holdings in Southern were worth $411,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of SO. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in Southern during the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. YANKCOM Partnership bought a new position in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Southern by 168.1% during the 3rd quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC now owns 311 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 195 shares during the last quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp boosted its position in Southern by 84.9% during the 4th quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 429 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 197 shares during the period. Finally, Valley National Advisers Inc. grew its holdings in 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. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Southern

In related news, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,236 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,138,296. This represents a 52.35 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of Southern 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 106,819 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,946,985.28. The trade was a 23.16 % decrease in their position. 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 quarter. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SO has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Guggenheim cut Southern from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 22nd. One investment 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Southern presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $90.54.

Southern Stock Down 1.5 %

Shares of Southern stock traded down $1.38 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $88.72. The company's stock had a trading volume of 4,535,984 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,345,376. The Southern Company has a 52 week low of $67.53 and a 52 week high of $94.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.67. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $85.43 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $87.07. The company has a market capitalization of $97.31 billion, a PE ratio of 22.13, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last released 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). Southern had a net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 12.23%. The business had revenue of $6.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.90 billion. Equities research analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Announces Dividend

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