Southern Company (The) $SO Shares Sold by New York State Common Retirement Fund

New York State Common Retirement Fund reduced its stake in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 6.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,064,675 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 74,099 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in Southern were worth $100,899,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Ameriflex Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Southern by 275.0% during the second quarter. Ameriflex Group Inc. now owns 300 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 220 shares during the period. Advantage Trust Co boosted its stake in Southern by 1,428.6% during the 2nd quarter. Advantage Trust Co now owns 321 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the period. Grey Fox Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Southern in the 3rd quarter worth about $29,000. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. bought a new position in Southern in the 3rd quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, Chilton Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Southern by 120.1% in the third quarter. Chilton Capital Management LLC now owns 361 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SO has been the subject of several analyst reports. KeyCorp reduced their price objective on Southern from $87.00 to $76.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $98.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, November 6th. Mizuho reduced their price target on Southern from $97.00 to $88.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $102.50 price target (up from $99.50) on shares of Southern in a report on Friday, October 17th. Finally, Evercore ISI started coverage on shares of Southern in a research note on Monday, October 6th. They set an “in-line” rating and a $103.00 price objective on the stock. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $94.91.

Southern Price Performance

SO opened at $89.10 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $87.52 and a 200 day moving average price of $91.65. Southern Company has a 1 year low of $82.78 and a 1 year high of $100.83. The stock has a market cap of $98.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.05, a PEG ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a current ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The utilities provider reported $1.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.09. Southern had a return on equity of 12.52% and a net margin of 15.42%.The company had revenue of $7.82 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.04 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.39 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 7.5% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.74 per share. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 17th. Southern’s payout ratio is currently 73.27%.

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.