Banco Santander S.A. Invests $632,000 in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Banco Santander S.A. bought a new position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 7,683 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $632,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in SO. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new position in Southern in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. YANKCOM Partnership acquired a new position in Southern in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in Southern by 168.1% in the third quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC now owns 311 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 195 shares during the period. WFA Asset Management Corp raised its position in Southern by 84.9% in the fourth quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 429 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares during the period. Finally, Valley National Advisers Inc. raised its position in Southern by 244.4% in the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 434 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 308 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Southern Stock Down 1.5 %

Shares of Southern stock traded down $1.38 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $88.72. 4,535,984 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,345,376. The firm has a market cap of $97.31 billion, a PE ratio of 22.13, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46. The stock's fifty day moving average is $85.56 and its 200 day moving average is $87.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.67. The Southern Company has a 1 year low of $67.53 and a 1 year high of $94.45.

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Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.51 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $6.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.90 billion. Southern had a net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 12.23%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th were issued a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.25%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. Southern's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 71.82%.

Insider Activity at Southern

In other Southern news, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.00, for a total value of $1,250,440.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 13,236 shares in the company, valued at $1,138,296. This represents a 52.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.12, for a total transaction of $2,997,532.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 106,819 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,946,985.28. This represents a 23.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 47,855 shares of company stock valued at $4,348,784 over the last quarter. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have issued reports on SO shares. Mizuho boosted their target price on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Guggenheim lowered Southern from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their target price on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $90.54.

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.