Pictet Asset Management Holding SA Decreases Holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Pictet Asset Management Holding SA reduced its position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 8.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,679,802 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 242,620 shares during the quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA owned about 0.24% of Southern worth $220,601,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in SO. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new position in Southern in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. YANKCOM Partnership bought a new position in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southern in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $35,000. WFA Asset Management Corp grew its holdings in shares of 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. Finally, Valley National Advisers Inc. increased its position 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 purchasing an additional 308 shares in the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Southern Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE:SO traded up $0.86 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $91.99. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,927,938 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,491,278. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $87.34 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $87.24. The Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $67.53 and a fifty-two week high of $94.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $100.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.90, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.67.

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Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.51 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $6.34 billion for 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%. As a group, analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were given a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.13%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. Southern's payout ratio is 71.82%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.61, for a total transaction of $100,811.25. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 102,090 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of Southern 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,236 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,138,296. This represents a 52.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 47,855 shares of company stock worth $4,348,784 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have weighed in on SO shares. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Guggenheim cut 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 report on Monday, February 3rd. Morgan Stanley reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Southern in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Southern currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $91.46.

Southern Company 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.