Invesco Ltd. Has $438.38 Million Stock Holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Invesco Ltd. trimmed its stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 58.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,325,294 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 7,553,025 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. owned 0.49% of Southern worth $438,378,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SO. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new stake in Southern during the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. YANKCOM Partnership acquired a new stake in Southern in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. WFA Asset Management Corp increased its position in Southern by 84.9% in the 4th quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 429 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 197 shares during the period. Valley National Advisers Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 308 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter worth $35,000. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Southern from an "underweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $94.00 target price for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Morgan Stanley reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Southern in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. UBS Group upped their price target on Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Guggenheim lowered Southern from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Southern presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $92.00.

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Southern Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:SO traded up $1.26 on Monday, hitting $91.12. The stock had a trading volume of 667,888 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,544,472. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $88.67 and its 200-day moving average price is $87.25. 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. The company has a market capitalization of $99.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.39.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.51 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $6.34 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.90 billion. Southern had a net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 12.23%. On average, equities research analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The firm 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. 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 3.16%. Southern's dividend payout ratio is 71.82%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the company's 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 102,090 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,148,284.90. This represents a 1.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of Southern stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was 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 approximately $1,138,296. The trade was a 52.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 47,855 shares of company stock worth $4,348,784 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

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.