Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI Has $777,000 Stock Holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI lifted its stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 55.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 9,423 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 3,373 shares during the period. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI's holdings in Southern were worth $777,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in SO. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. YANKCOM Partnership bought a new stake in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 195 shares during the period. WFA Asset Management Corp lifted its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 197 shares during the period. Finally, Valley National Advisers Inc. lifted its stake in Southern by 244.4% during 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. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company's stock.

Southern Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SO traded up $2.82 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $91.54. 6,727,812 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,285,584. The company has a market cap of $100.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.83, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $85.07 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $87.00. 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 twelve month low of $67.53 and a twelve month high of $94.45.

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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 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 analyst estimates of $5.90 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.23% and a net margin of 16.47%. As a group, analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. Southern's dividend payout ratio is currently 71.82%.

Insider Activity at Southern

In related news, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 13,236 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,138,296. This trade represents a 52.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 102,090 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,148,284.90. This represents a 1.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

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.