Magellan Asset Management Ltd Cuts Stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Magellan Asset Management Ltd cut its holdings in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 17.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 330,621 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 72,215 shares during the period. Magellan Asset Management Ltd's holdings in Southern were worth $27,217,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. YANKCOM Partnership purchased a new stake in Southern during the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in Southern in the fourth quarter worth about $35,000. WFA Asset Management Corp raised its position in Southern by 84.9% during the fourth quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 429 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares during the period. Finally, Valley National Advisers Inc. lifted its position in Southern by 244.4% in 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. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In other news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 102,090 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,148,284.90. This trade represents a 1.09 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,236 shares in the company, valued at $1,138,296. This trade represents a 52.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 47,855 shares of company stock valued at $4,348,784. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SO has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Scotiabank increased their price target on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. UBS Group boosted their price objective 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. Guggenheim downgraded shares of Southern from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Southern from an "underweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $94.00 price target for the company in a report on Tuesday. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Southern currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $92.00.

Southern Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE SO traded up $0.97 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $88.19. 1,791,075 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,530,293. The company has a market cap of $96.73 billion, a PE ratio of 22.02, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.39. The Southern Company has a 12 month low of $67.53 and a 12 month high of $94.45. 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 firm has a fifty day moving average price of $88.15 and a 200-day moving average price of $87.30.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last announced 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). 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 analysts' expectations of $5.90 billion. On average, sell-side analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th were given a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.27%. Southern's dividend payout ratio is presently 71.82%.

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.