Centaurus Financial Inc. Decreases Stock Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Centaurus Financial Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 28,037 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 841 shares during the quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $2,528,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of SO. Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Southern by 125.0% during the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 7,871 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $710,000 after purchasing an additional 4,373 shares in the last quarter. Sompo Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in Southern by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. Sompo Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 3,350 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $302,000 after acquiring an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Southern by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 82,595 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $7,448,000 after acquiring an additional 2,023 shares during the period. StoneX Group Inc. grew its position in Southern by 2.0% in the third quarter. StoneX Group Inc. now owns 64,207 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,790,000 after acquiring an additional 1,280 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Southern by 11.4% during the third quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. now owns 63,492 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,726,000 after purchasing an additional 6,504 shares in the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Bank of America increased their price target on Southern from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Guggenheim lifted their price target on shares of Southern from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Mizuho cut shares of Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $90.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Monday, September 16th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Southern in a report on Friday, September 20th. They set a “hold” rating and a $94.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of Southern from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $89.47.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO James Y. Kerr II sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.64, for a total transaction of $2,689,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 145,088 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,005,688.32. This trade represents a 17.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.54, for a total value of $587,830.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,467 shares in the company, valued at $3,981,575.18. This represents a 12.86 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of SO opened at $87.60 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $95.98 billion, a PE ratio of 20.37, a P/E/G ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $89.73 and a 200 day moving average price of $84.79. The Southern Company has a 52-week low of $65.80 and a 52-week high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $7.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.14 billion. Southern had a net margin of 17.87% and a return on equity of 12.78%. The business’s revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.42 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 4.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.29%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is currently 66.98%.

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.