CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co Has $46.22 Million Stock Holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co cut its position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 4.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 561,597 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 27,559 shares during the quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co owned 0.05% of Southern worth $46,216,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Capital Square LLC grew its stake in Southern by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Capital Square LLC now owns 24,800 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $2,070,000 after buying an additional 953 shares during the last quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd bought a new position in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter worth about $125,000. MSH Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southern in the 4th quarter worth about $1,667,000. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its position in Southern by 325.7% in the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 4,322,931 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $355,864,000 after purchasing an additional 3,307,527 shares during the last quarter. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Southern by 5.2% during the 4th quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 229,905 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $18,926,000 after purchasing an additional 11,384 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on SO. Mizuho lifted their price target on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. UBS Group lifted their target price on Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Barclays raised their price target on Southern from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday. Guggenheim lowered shares of Southern from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Southern from an "underweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $94.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $92.54.

Southern Trading Up 0.0 %

NYSE SO traded up $0.01 on Thursday, hitting $91.14. 877,901 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,051,774. The company has a market capitalization of $100.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.73, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.39. The Southern Company has a 52-week low of $73.14 and a 52-week high of $94.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.66. The company's 50-day moving average price is $89.59 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $87.33.

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

Southern Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be given a $0.74 dividend. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.25%. This is a boost from Southern's previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. Southern's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 71.82%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Southern news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.61, for a total transaction of $100,811.25. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 102,090 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,148,284.90. This trade represents a 1.09 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.00, for a total transaction of $1,250,440.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,236 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,138,296. The trade was a 52.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 47,855 shares of company stock valued at $4,348,784. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.