McKinley Carter Wealth Services Inc. Decreases Stock Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

McKinley Carter Wealth Services Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 2.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,514 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 157 shares during the quarter. McKinley Carter Wealth Services Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $454,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Southern by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 24,521,339 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,203,386,000 after purchasing an additional 1,075,768 shares in the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC boosted its position in Southern by 17,272.6% during the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 14,647,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,320,866,000 after acquiring an additional 14,562,689 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Southern by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,405,596 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $577,657,000 after acquiring an additional 52,414 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank grew its stake in Southern by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 3,245,500 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $292,679,000 after acquiring an additional 15,300 shares during the period. Finally, Synovus Financial Corp raised its holdings in Southern by 72.4% in the 3rd quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 3,077,959 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $277,570,000 after acquiring an additional 1,293,072 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Southern

In related news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of the business’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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 88,393 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,592,958.70. The trade was a 1.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Guggenheim downgraded shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on shares of Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $90.14.

Southern Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE SO opened at $82.88 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $84.15 and a 200 day moving average price of $86.57. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66. The Southern Company has a 12-month low of $65.80 and a 12-month high of $94.45. The company has a market cap of $90.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.27, a P/E/G ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.52.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $7.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.14 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.78% and a net margin of 17.87%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.42 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 4.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.48%. 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.