Legal & General Group Plc Sells 1,575,174 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Legal & General Group Plc cut its position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 15.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 8,308,053 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 1,575,174 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned 0.76% of Southern worth $683,919,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Southern by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 102,790,453 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $8,461,710,000 after purchasing an additional 698,422 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Southern by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 25,050,209 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $2,056,441,000 after buying an additional 528,870 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Southern in the 4th quarter valued at about $848,019,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Southern by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,599,710 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $543,288,000 after acquiring an additional 194,114 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Southern during the fourth quarter worth about $315,290,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on SO. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Southern from an "underweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $94.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Mizuho lifted 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. Guggenheim cut shares of Southern from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Morgan Stanley reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Southern in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $92.00.

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Southern Stock Performance

Shares of Southern stock traded up $0.91 during 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 quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60. The business's 50-day moving average price is $88.67 and its 200-day moving average price is $87.27. The Southern Company has a 52 week low of $67.53 and a 52 week high of $94.45. The firm has a market cap of $98.50 billion, a PE ratio of 22.39, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.39.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last announced 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). Southern had a return on equity of 12.23% and a net margin of 16.47%. The business had revenue of $6.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.90 billion. Equities analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.21%. Southern's dividend payout ratio is presently 71.82%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.00, for a total transaction of $1,250,440.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,236 shares in the company, valued at $1,138,296. This represents a 52.35 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of Southern stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.12, for a total value of $2,997,532.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 106,819 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,946,985.28. This represents a 23.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 47,855 shares of company stock worth $4,348,784. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.