Prudential Financial Inc. Sells 102,493 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Prudential Financial Inc. lessened its stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 14.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 599,533 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 102,493 shares during the period. Prudential Financial Inc. owned approximately 0.05% of Southern worth $49,354,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. YANKCOM Partnership purchased a new stake in Southern during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. WFA Asset Management Corp increased its stake in Southern by 84.9% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. raised its holdings 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. Finally, Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter worth approximately $35,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on SO. Guggenheim lowered shares of Southern from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Mizuho boosted their price target on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Southern in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, 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 note on Thursday, December 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $91.46.

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Southern Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE SO traded up $1.07 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $91.10. 4,483,743 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,495,761. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $99.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $87.34 and a 200 day moving average of $87.24. The Southern Company has a 1 year low of $67.53 and a 1 year high of $94.45.

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

Southern Dividend Announcement

The business 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 of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.16%. Southern's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 71.82%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In other Southern news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.61, for a total value of $100,811.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 102,090 shares in the company, valued at $9,148,284.90. This represents a 1.09 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.00, for a total transaction of $1,250,440.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,236 shares of the company's stock, 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. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 47,855 shares of company stock valued at $4,348,784. Company 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.