Bard Financial Services Inc. Sells 4,065 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Bard Financial Services Inc. lessened its position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 24.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,520 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 4,065 shares during the quarter. Bard Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $1,129,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. OneAscent Financial Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Southern during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $576,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Southern by 5.4% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 108,361 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $9,772,000 after acquiring an additional 5,589 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. grew its position in Southern by 94.4% during the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 288,679 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $26,033,000 after purchasing an additional 140,151 shares during the last quarter. Swiss National Bank grew its position in Southern by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 3,245,500 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $292,679,000 after purchasing an additional 15,300 shares during the last quarter. Finally, HBW Advisory Services LLC grew its position in Southern by 219.4% during the 3rd quarter. HBW Advisory Services LLC now owns 8,971 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $809,000 after purchasing an additional 6,162 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on SO shares. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Southern from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Mizuho downgraded shares of Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $90.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Monday, September 16th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Guggenheim upped their price objective on shares of Southern from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Southern from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $90.00.

Southern Stock Performance

NYSE:SO opened at $84.69 on Wednesday. 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 fifty day moving average of $89.25 and a two-hundred day moving average of $85.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $92.79 billion, a PE ratio of 19.63, a P/E/G ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.51. The Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $65.80 and a fifty-two 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 for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.10. The company 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.42 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.40%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 18th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is presently 66.98%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The shares were 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 directly owns 88,393 shares in the company, valued at $7,592,958.70. This represents a 1.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO James Y. Kerr II sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 145,088 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,005,688.32. This trade represents a 17.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Southern Company 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.