Citizens Business Bank Trims Stock Holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Citizens Business Bank lowered its holdings in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 2.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,099 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 159 shares during the quarter. Citizens Business Bank’s holdings in Southern were worth $550,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. M&T Bank Corp grew its holdings in shares of Southern by 1.3% in the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 162,983 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $14,697,000 after purchasing an additional 2,056 shares during the last quarter. Soltis Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in Southern by 16.6% in the 3rd quarter. Soltis Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,023 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $273,000 after buying an additional 431 shares during the period. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group increased its position in shares of Southern by 2.1% during the third quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 9,035 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $815,000 after acquiring an additional 185 shares during the period. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Southern by 8.0% during the third quarter. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC now owns 1,678 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $151,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arete Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Southern by 0.7% in the third quarter. Arete Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 18,209 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,637,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In other Southern news, CEO James Y. Kerr II sold 30,000 shares of the 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 145,088 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,005,688.32. This trade represents a 17.13 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.90, for a total value of $100,503.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 88,393 shares in the company, valued at $7,592,958.70. The trade was a 1.31 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have commented on the company. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Mizuho downgraded Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $90.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Monday, September 16th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Guggenheim upped their price target on shares of Southern from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Southern from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $90.00.

Southern Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SO opened at $84.39 on Wednesday. The Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $65.80 and a fifty-two 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 company has a market cap of $92.46 billion, a PE ratio of 19.63, a P/E/G ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.51. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $89.25 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $85.45.

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

Southern Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th were given a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 18th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.41%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.