Eagle Ridge Investment Management reduced its stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO – Get Rating) by 0.7% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 153,272 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 1,132 shares during the period. Eagle Ridge Investment Management's holdings in Southern were worth $10,930,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Toews Corp ADV raised its stake in Southern by 200.0% in the second quarter. Toews Corp ADV now owns 16,800 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,198,000 after buying an additional 11,200 shares in the last quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Southern by 38.6% during the second quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 35,653 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $2,542,000 after purchasing an additional 9,924 shares in the last quarter. Horan Securities Inc. increased its stake in shares of Southern by 7.1% during the second quarter. Horan Securities Inc. now owns 3,026 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $217,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Lehman & Derafelo Financial Resources LLC increased its stake in shares of Southern by 7.6% during the second quarter. Lehman & Derafelo Financial Resources LLC now owns 5,693 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $406,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MAI Capital Management increased its stake in shares of Southern by 35.1% during the second quarter. MAI Capital Management now owns 9,939 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $709,000 after purchasing an additional 2,583 shares in the last quarter. 62.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Southern news, EVP James Y. Kerr II sold 25,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.00, for a total transaction of $1,900,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 136,987 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,411,012. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CEO Stephen E. Kuczynski sold 14,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.92, for a total value of $1,057,340.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 115,284 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,406,509.28. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP James Y. Kerr II sold 25,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.00, for a total transaction of $1,900,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 136,987 shares in the company, valued at $10,411,012. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 54,000 shares of company stock worth $4,109,655 in the last 90 days. 0.37% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Southern Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE:SO traded up $0.59 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $72.31. The company's stock had a trading volume of 79,061 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,535,847. The Southern Company has a 52 week low of $60.99 and a 52 week high of $80.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.55, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The company has a market capitalization of $76.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.25, a P/E/G ratio of 5.06 and a beta of 0.50. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $77.11 and its 200 day moving average price is $74.15.

Southern (NYSE:SO – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 28th. The utilities provider reported $1.07 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.84 by $0.23. Southern had a net margin of 12.13% and a return on equity of 12.09%. The business had revenue of $7.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.31 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.84 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 38.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 3.61 EPS for the current year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 6th. Investors of record on Monday, August 15th were paid a dividend of $0.68 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 12th. This represents a $2.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.76%. Southern's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 95.77%.

Southern Company Profile

(Get Rating)

The Southern Company, through its subsidiaries, engages in the generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity. It operates through Gas Distribution Operations, Gas Pipeline Investments, Wholesale Gas Services, and Gas Marketing Services segments. 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, wholesale gas services, and gas pipeline investments operations.

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