SBI Securities Co. Ltd. Acquires New Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 18,965 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,561,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake in Southern by 168.1% in the 3rd quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC now owns 311 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 195 shares during the last quarter. YANKCOM Partnership bought a new position in Southern in the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in Southern during the 4th quarter worth $35,000. Finally, WFA Asset Management Corp raised 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 during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Southern

In other news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the business's stock in a transaction 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 owns 102,090 shares in the company, valued at $9,148,284.90. The trade was a 1.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction 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 that occurred 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 transaction, 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. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on SO. Scotiabank boosted their price target on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Guggenheim downgraded shares of Southern from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Mizuho increased their price target on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Southern currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $90.54.

Southern Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of Southern stock traded up $0.05 during trading on Thursday, hitting $88.70. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,881,101 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,190,982. The Southern Company has a 52 week low of $67.53 and a 52 week high of $94.45. The stock has a market cap of $97.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.53. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $84.79 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $86.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.66.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last issued 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). Southern had a return on equity of 12.23% and a net margin of 16.47%. The company had revenue of $6.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.90 billion. Equities research analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be issued a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.25%. Southern's payout ratio is currently 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.