Edgestream Partners L.P. Sells 43,536 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Edgestream Partners L.P. reduced its stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 33.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 88,409 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 43,536 shares during the period. Edgestream Partners L.P.’s holdings in Southern were worth $7,973,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. LRI Investments LLC acquired a new position in Southern during the first quarter valued at approximately $81,000. Boston Partners boosted its position in shares of Southern by 8.4% during the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 880,367 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $63,158,000 after purchasing an additional 68,561 shares in the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale grew 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 buying an additional 21,743 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Southern by 68.9% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 13,208 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,025,000 after buying an additional 5,389 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV raised its stake in Southern by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 21,654 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,563,000 after buying an additional 150 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Southern

In other news, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 44,467 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,981,575.18. The trade was a 12.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO James Y. Kerr II sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 145,088 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,005,688.32. This represents a 17.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on SO shares. Barclays boosted their target price on Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Scotiabank lifted their price target on shares of Southern from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Southern from $77.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Wolfe Research cut Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $89.47.

Southern Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of SO stock opened at $89.15 on Friday. The Southern Company has a 52-week low of $65.80 and a 52-week high of $94.45. 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 stock has a market cap of $97.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.73, a PEG ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.52. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $89.72 and its 200-day moving average is $85.08.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.10. Southern had a return on equity of 12.78% and a net margin of 17.87%. The company had revenue of $7.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.14 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.42 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4.03 EPS for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be given a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.23%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th. Southern’s payout ratio is presently 66.98%.

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.