Baugh & Associates LLC Sells 630 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Baugh & Associates LLC lessened its holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 1.0% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 63,714 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 630 shares during the quarter. Southern comprises about 2.4% of Baugh & Associates LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest holding. Baugh & Associates LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $4,571,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in SO. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Southern in the 4th quarter worth $631,068,000. Capital International Investors lifted its position in shares of Southern by 53.2% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 16,444,163 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,153,065,000 after buying an additional 5,707,845 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its holdings in Southern by 38.5% during the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,547,188 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $488,461,000 after buying an additional 2,096,988 shares in the last quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Southern during the 1st quarter worth approximately $128,413,000. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in Southern by 6,303.7% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,199,544 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $84,112,000 after purchasing an additional 1,180,812 shares during the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SO has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group cut shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $78.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Southern from $72.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $76.00 price objective (up previously from $72.00) on shares of Southern in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Argus raised their price target on shares of Southern from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Southern from $74.00 to $71.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $76.14.

Southern Price Performance

NYSE SO traded down $0.62 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $77.42. The stock had a trading volume of 1,462,297 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,620,360. The Southern Company has a twelve month low of $61.56 and a twelve month high of $80.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $84.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.17, a PEG ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.65. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $77.33 and its 200 day moving average is $72.18.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The utilities provider reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.13. Southern had a net margin of 16.74% and a return on equity of 12.07%. The business had revenue of $6.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.59 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.79 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 20th were issued a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.72%. This is a boost from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 17th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is presently 74.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 9,126 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.04, for a total value of $684,815.04. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 121,504 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,117,660.16. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

About Southern

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.