Cibc World Markets Corp Raises Holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Cibc World Markets Corp lifted its position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 16.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 172,816 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 24,443 shares during the quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp's holdings in Southern were worth $14,226,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter worth about $315,290,000. Synovus Financial Corp boosted its stake in Southern by 72.4% during the third quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 3,077,959 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $277,570,000 after buying an additional 1,293,072 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Southern by 4.6% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 24,521,339 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $2,203,386,000 after acquiring an additional 1,075,768 shares during the last quarter. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH purchased a new stake in shares of Southern in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $51,605,000. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 44.8% in the 4th quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 1,504,693 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $123,866,000 after acquiring an additional 465,399 shares during the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SO has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Southern from $88.00 to $91.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday. Scotiabank increased their price objective on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Guggenheim cut Southern from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Southern currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $91.46.

Southern Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of Southern stock traded down $0.76 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $89.21. The company had a trading volume of 8,327,254 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,207,030. 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 is $86.53 and its two-hundred day moving average is $87.24. The company has a market cap of $97.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46. The Southern Company has a twelve month low of $67.53 and a twelve month 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 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.51 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $6.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.90 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.23% and a net margin of 16.47%. Analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were issued a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.23%. Southern's payout ratio is 71.82%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.61, for a total transaction of $100,811.25. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 102,090 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,148,284.90. This trade represents a 1.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $1,138,296. This represents a 52.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 47,855 shares of company stock worth $4,348,784 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

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.