Schnieders Capital Management LLC Reduces Holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Schnieders Capital Management LLC lessened its position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 6.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 59,219 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 4,170 shares during the period. Southern comprises 0.9% of Schnieders Capital Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest holding. Schnieders Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $4,152,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. NewSquare Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Southern by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 102,013 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $7,049,000 after acquiring an additional 1,839 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter valued at $413,000. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of Southern by 4.9% during the 4th quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC now owns 23,779 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,667,000 after buying an additional 1,115 shares during the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust raised its position in shares of Southern by 9.6% in the 4th quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 3,028 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $212,000 after buying an additional 266 shares during the period. Finally, Community Bank & Trust Waco Texas boosted its holdings in Southern by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Community Bank & Trust Waco Texas now owns 66,516 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,664,000 after acquiring an additional 2,256 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SO has been the subject of several recent research reports. UBS Group lowered Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $78.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Southern from $75.00 to $72.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 16th. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $76.00 target price (up from $72.00) on shares of Southern in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Southern from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Finally, Mizuho raised their target price on Southern from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $74.36.

Southern Price Performance

Shares of Southern stock traded up $0.28 on Tuesday, hitting $73.26. The company had a trading volume of 6,054,387 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,689,873. The Southern Company has a 52 week low of $61.56 and a 52 week high of $75.80. The company has a market cap of $80.19 billion, a PE ratio of 20.18, a PEG ratio of 4.51 and a beta of 0.49. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $69.23 and a 200-day simple moving average of $69.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.56.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The utilities provider reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $6.05 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.90 billion. Southern had a net margin of 15.79% and a return on equity of 11.40%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 14.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.26 EPS. Research analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The company 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 dividend of $0.72 per share. This is an increase from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 17th. Southern’s payout ratio is 77.14%.

Insider Activity

In other Southern news, CEO Stephen E. Kuczynski sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.92, for a total transaction of $344,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 126,528 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,720,309.76. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Stephen E. Kuczynski sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.92, for a total transaction of $344,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 126,528 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,720,309.76. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Christopher Cummiskey sold 899 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.06, for a total transaction of $60,286.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 22,502 shares in the company, valued at $1,508,984.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 10,899 shares of company stock worth $739,587 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.