Capital Group Private Client Services Inc. Reduces Stock Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Capital Group Private Client Services Inc. reduced its stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 73.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 41,761 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 112,893 shares during the quarter. Capital Group Private Client Services Inc.'s holdings in Southern were worth $3,438,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in Southern during the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. YANKCOM Partnership bought a new stake in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. WFA Asset Management Corp grew its holdings in shares of Southern by 84.9% during the 4th quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 429 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares in the last quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. increased its position in shares of Southern by 244.4% in the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 434 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 308 shares during the period. Finally, Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in Southern in the fourth quarter valued at about $35,000. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Southern news, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 13,236 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,138,296. This represents a 52.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of Southern stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 106,819 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,946,985.28. The trade was a 23.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 47,855 shares of company stock valued at $4,348,784 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on SO shares. Morgan Stanley restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Southern in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Mizuho raised their price objective on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Barclays boosted their target price on Southern from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Guggenheim cut shares of Southern from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $92.54.

Southern Stock Down 0.7 %

Southern stock traded down $0.61 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $91.25. 5,212,820 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,510,983. The business's 50-day moving average price is $89.48 and its 200-day moving average price is $87.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $100.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.39. The Southern Company has a 52-week low of $72.11 and a 52-week high of $94.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60.

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

Southern Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.74 per share. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.24%. This is a positive change from Southern's previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. Southern's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 71.82%.

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.