The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Shares Sold by Employees Retirement System of Texas

Employees Retirement System of Texas lowered its holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 9.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 109,404 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 12,027 shares during the quarter. Employees Retirement System of Texas' holdings in Southern were worth $9,006,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of SO. Centiva Capital LP acquired a new stake in shares of Southern during the third quarter valued at about $232,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its position in shares of Southern by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 121,333 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $10,941,000 after purchasing an additional 382 shares during the period. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. raised its position in Southern by 19.1% in the third quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 78,028 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $7,037,000 after purchasing an additional 12,509 shares during the period. Quarry LP acquired a new position in Southern during the third quarter worth $49,000. Finally, Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Southern during the third quarter worth $3,175,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SO has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Southern in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Mizuho boosted 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. Guggenheim lowered shares of Southern from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Southern from an "underweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $94.00 price target for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $92.00.

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Insider Buying and Selling

In other 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 transaction of $1,250,440.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,236 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 accessible through this link. Also, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the company's stock in a transaction 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 owns 102,090 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,148,284.90. This trade represents a 1.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 47,855 shares of company stock worth $4,348,784 in the last ninety days. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Southern Stock Up 1.0 %

Southern stock traded up $0.91 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $89.80. The company's stock had a trading volume of 4,021,990 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,560,696. The company has a market cap of $98.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.39, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $88.67 and a 200-day simple moving average of $87.27. The Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $67.53 and a fifty-two week high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results 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 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 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th were given a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. Southern's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 71.82%.

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.