Capital International Inc. CA Sells 323,082 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Capital International Inc. CA lowered its stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 60.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 213,948 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 323,082 shares during the quarter. Capital International Inc. CA's holdings in Southern were worth $17,612,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Southern by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,440,982 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $200,943,000 after acquiring an additional 64,328 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Southern by 20.8% in the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 778,774 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $64,109,000 after purchasing an additional 133,908 shares in the last quarter. Freedom Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Southern by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Freedom Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,939 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $900,000 after buying an additional 401 shares in the last quarter. Commerce Bank raised its holdings in shares of Southern by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 155,310 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $12,785,000 after acquiring an additional 4,321 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Square LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Capital Square LLC now owns 24,800 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $2,070,000 after buying an additional 953 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company's stock.

Southern Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of Southern stock traded down $0.06 on Thursday, hitting $91.07. 3,018,359 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,498,881. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $89.59 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $87.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $100.19 billion, a PE ratio of 22.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.39. 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 Southern Company has a one year low of $72.11 and a one year high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.90 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.23% and a net margin of 16.47%. On average, research analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be given a dividend of $0.74 per share. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.25%. This is an increase from Southern's previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. Southern's dividend payout ratio is 71.82%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SO has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Southern in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Guggenheim lowered shares of Southern from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on Southern from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $92.54.

Insider Activity at Southern

In other news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 106,819 shares in the company, valued at $9,946,985.28. The trade was a 23.16 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.61, for a total value of $100,811.25. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 102,090 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,148,284.90. This represents a 1.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 47,855 shares of company stock valued at $4,348,784. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

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.