Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC Increases Stock Position in Southern Company (The) $SO

Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 40.6% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 29,168 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,421 shares during the quarter. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $2,543,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of SO. Cloud Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Southern in the 3rd quarter worth $25,000. Grey Fox Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Southern in the third quarter valued at about $29,000. Triumph Capital Management purchased a new position in Southern in the third quarter valued at about $29,000. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. bought a new position in Southern in the third quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, Chilton Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Southern by 120.1% in the third quarter. Chilton Capital Management LLC now owns 361 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SO has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Southern from $91.00 to $88.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 15th. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Southern from $101.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Southern from $104.00 to $93.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 15th. Evercore raised shares of Southern from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $111.00 price target on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 5th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price target on Southern from $98.00 to $94.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Southern currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $98.08.

Southern Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of NYSE:SO opened at $96.49 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69. Southern Company has a 52-week low of $83.09 and a 52-week high of $100.83. The stock has a market cap of $106.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.55, a PEG ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.44. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $93.73 and a 200-day moving average price of $91.90.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The utilities provider reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by ($0.01). Southern had a net margin of 14.69% and a return on equity of 12.52%. The firm had revenue of $6.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.41 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.50 EPS. Southern’s quarterly revenue was up 10.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 17th were issued a $0.74 dividend. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 17th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is 75.32%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In other news, EVP Christopher Cummiskey sold 6,669 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.55, for a total value of $643,891.95. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 30,800 shares in the company, valued at $2,973,740. This represents a 17.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.16% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Southern

Southern Company (NYSE: SO) is an Atlanta-based energy holding company that provides electric and gas utility services and owns power generation assets across the United States. Founded in 1945, the company operates a portfolio of regulated electric utilities and affiliated businesses that generate, transmit and distribute electricity to residential, commercial and industrial customers.

Southern’s principal regulated electric subsidiaries include Georgia Power, Alabama Power and Mississippi Power, which serve large portions of the southeastern United States.