FIL Ltd Cuts Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

FIL Ltd lowered its holdings in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 27.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 262,808 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 98,304 shares during the quarter. FIL Ltd's holdings in Southern were worth $21,634,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. YANKCOM Partnership purchased a new stake in Southern in the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. WFA Asset Management Corp grew its holdings in Southern by 84.9% during the 4th quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 429 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 197 shares in the last quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Southern by 244.4% in the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 434 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 308 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Southern in the 4th quarter worth approximately $35,000. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on SO. Morgan Stanley restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Southern in a report on Thursday, March 20th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Southern from an "underweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $94.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Mizuho upped their target price on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Guggenheim cut Southern from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Nine equities research 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 stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $92.00.

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Southern Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:SO traded up $0.53 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $91.55. The company's stock had a trading volume of 553,018 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,532,939. The company has a market cap of $100.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.83, 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 quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.67. The Southern Company has a 12-month low of $67.53 and a 12-month high of $94.45. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $88.96 and its 200 day simple moving average is $87.29.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.51 by ($0.01). The company 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, analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were given a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a 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 Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,946,985.28. This represents a 23.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of Southern 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 owns 13,236 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 47,855 shares of company stock worth $4,348,784 over the last 90 days. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.