Mawer Investment Management Ltd. Has $75.51 Million Stock Holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Mawer Investment Management Ltd. trimmed its position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 15.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 917,274 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 168,901 shares during the quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. owned approximately 0.08% of Southern worth $75,510,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. YANKCOM Partnership acquired a new position in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. WFA Asset Management Corp raised its position in shares of Southern by 84.9% in the 4th quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 429 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 197 shares during the period. Valley National Advisers Inc. boosted its stake in Southern by 244.4% during the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 434 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 308 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in Southern during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,000. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Southern Price Performance

SO traded down $0.13 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $91.82. 4,175,381 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,507,218. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $87.51 and a 200 day moving average price of $87.27. The company has a market cap of $100.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.90, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46. The Southern Company has a twelve month low of $67.53 and a twelve month high of $94.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.66.

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

Southern Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th were issued a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.14%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. Southern's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 71.82%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Southern news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of Southern 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 106,819 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,946,985.28. The trade was a 23.16 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 13,236 shares in the company, valued at $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 sold a total of 47,855 shares of company stock valued at $4,348,784 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on SO shares. Guggenheim lowered shares of Southern from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Morgan Stanley reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Southern in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Mizuho boosted their price target on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Southern currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $91.46.

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.