Jackson Hole Capital Partners LLC Has $442,000 Stock Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Jackson Hole Capital Partners LLC reduced its stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 5.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 6,306 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 378 shares during the quarter. Jackson Hole Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $442,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Abbrea Capital LLC lifted its stake in Southern by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. Abbrea Capital LLC now owns 19,027 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,334,000 after buying an additional 850 shares during the period. Syon Capital LLC acquired a new position in Southern in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $437,000. BIP Wealth LLC lifted its stake in Southern by 27.1% in the fourth quarter. BIP Wealth LLC now owns 10,258 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $719,000 after buying an additional 2,185 shares during the period. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in Southern by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 43,747 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,068,000 after buying an additional 1,417 shares during the period. Finally, Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. lifted its stake in Southern by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. now owns 88,390 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $6,198,000 after buying an additional 2,059 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SO has been the subject of several recent research reports. UBS Group downgraded Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $78.00 to $76.00 in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $80.00 price objective on shares of Southern in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and set a $76.00 price objective (up previously from $72.00) on shares of Southern in a report on Monday, April 1st. Scotiabank decreased their price objective on Southern from $80.00 to $77.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price objective on Southern from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $74.36.

Southern Stock Down 1.6 %

NYSE SO traded down $1.17 on Friday, reaching $73.20. The company had a trading volume of 5,478,475 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,730,311. The Southern Company has a 52-week low of $61.56 and a 52-week high of $75.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $80.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.17, a P/E/G ratio of 4.63 and a beta of 0.49. The company’s fifty day moving average is $69.50 and its 200 day moving average is $69.31. The company has a quick ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The utilities provider reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.05. Southern had a return on equity of 11.40% and a net margin of 15.79%. The firm had revenue of $6.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.90 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.26 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 14.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 3.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 20th will be paid a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 17th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.93%. This is an increase from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 77.14%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Stephen E. Kuczynski sold 5,000 shares of Southern stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.94, for a total transaction of $334,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 129,552 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,672,210.88. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Stephen E. Kuczynski sold 5,000 shares of Southern stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.94, for a total transaction of $334,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 129,552 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,672,210.88. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Christopher Cummiskey sold 899 shares of Southern stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.06, for a total value of $60,286.94. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 22,502 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,508,984.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 10,899 shares of company stock worth $739,587 in the last quarter. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.