Sunburst Financial Group LLC Sells 407 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Sunburst Financial Group LLC decreased its position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 3.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 10,620 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 407 shares during the period. Sunburst Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $755,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Southern by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 99,572,665 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,444,343,000 after buying an additional 352,023 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in Southern by 53.2% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 16,444,163 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,153,065,000 after acquiring an additional 5,707,845 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its position in Southern by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 9,811,307 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $634,988,000 after purchasing an additional 349,122 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Southern in the 4th quarter worth $631,068,000. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its position in shares of Southern by 38.5% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,547,188 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $488,461,000 after purchasing an additional 2,096,988 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

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

Southern Stock Performance

NYSE:SO traded down $0.55 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $77.49. 753,197 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,614,641. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $77.33 and its 200-day moving average price is $72.18. The firm has a market cap of $84.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.51. The Southern Company has a one year low of $61.56 and a one year high of $80.84.

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

Southern Increases Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on SO shares. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Southern from $74.00 to $71.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Scotiabank lowered their price target on shares of Southern from $80.00 to $77.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Argus upped their price objective on shares of Southern from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 15th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Southern from $72.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, UBS Group downgraded Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $78.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $76.14.

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.