Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA cut its holdings in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 12.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 21,920,407 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 3,245,816 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA owned about 2.00% of Southern worth $1,804,488,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of SO. Benjamin Edwards Inc. grew its stake in shares of Southern by 2,078.6% during the third quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 152,675 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $13,769,000 after purchasing an additional 145,667 shares during the last quarter. Ascent Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Southern by 6.5% during the third quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 3,607 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $325,000 after acquiring an additional 221 shares during the period. Centiva Capital LP acquired a new position in shares of Southern during the third quarter valued at $232,000. Hilltop Holdings Inc. boosted its holdings in Southern by 4.9% in the third quarter. Hilltop Holdings Inc. now owns 20,555 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,854,000 after acquiring an additional 953 shares during the last quarter. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Southern by 12.1% during the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 1,039,294 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $93,780,000 after purchasing an additional 112,132 shares during the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Southern in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Guggenheim lowered Southern from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Mizuho upped their price objective on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $91.46.
Check Out Our Latest Stock Report on SO
Insider Activity at Southern
In other Southern news, 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 value of $1,250,440.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,236 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,138,296. The trade was a 52.35 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.12, for a total transaction of $2,997,532.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 106,819 shares in the company, valued at $9,946,985.28. This trade represents a 23.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 47,855 shares of company stock valued at $4,348,784. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.
Southern Stock Up 1.2 %
Shares of NYSE:SO traded up $1.14 during trading on Thursday, hitting $92.44. 6,392,546 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,521,041. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $88.03 and a 200-day moving average price of $87.35. The Southern Company has a 52 week low of $67.53 and a 52 week high of $94.45. The company has a market cap of $101.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46.
Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly 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 net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 12.23%. The company had revenue of $6.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.90 billion. As a group, research analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Southern Announces Dividend
The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders 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 3.12%. Southern's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 71.82%.
Southern Company Profile
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Free Report)
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.
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