The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Stock Holdings Increased by DnB Asset Management AS

DnB Asset Management AS grew its holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 2.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 483,267 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 11,807 shares during the quarter. DnB Asset Management AS's holdings in Southern were worth $39,783,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Southern by 5.4% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 108,361 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $9,772,000 after acquiring an additional 5,589 shares during the last quarter. Cadence Bank grew its position in shares of Southern by 2.8% in the third quarter. Cadence Bank now owns 15,595 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,406,000 after purchasing an additional 430 shares during the period. Townsquare Capital LLC lifted its position in Southern by 40.8% during the third quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 26,530 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $2,392,000 after buying an additional 7,694 shares during the period. CreativeOne Wealth LLC boosted its stake in Southern by 44.8% in the 3rd quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 31,832 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $2,871,000 after buying an additional 9,855 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Providence Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Southern by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Providence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 40,953 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $3,693,000 after acquiring an additional 418 shares during the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Remove Ads

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on SO shares. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Scotiabank increased their target price on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Southern in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Guggenheim downgraded Southern from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Mizuho boosted their target price on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $91.46.

Insider Activity

In other Southern news, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the firm'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 transaction, 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.12, for a total value of $2,997,532.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 106,819 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,946,985.28. This trade represents a 23.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 47,855 shares of company stock worth $4,348,784. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Southern Stock Up 0.9 %

SO traded up $0.86 on Monday, reaching $91.99. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,421,827 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,503,102. The business's 50 day moving average is $87.34 and its 200 day moving average is $87.24. The Southern Company has a 1 year low of $67.53 and a 1 year high of $94.45. The stock has a market cap of $100.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.66.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 company had revenue of $6.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.90 billion. Southern had a net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 12.23%. As a group, research analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were given a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.13%. Southern's payout ratio is 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.