The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Stake Trimmed by Schroder Investment Management Group

Schroder Investment Management Group cut its holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 94.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 501,404 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 7,996,114 shares during the period. Schroder Investment Management Group's holdings in Southern were worth $41,306,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SO. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Southern in the fourth quarter valued at $848,019,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter worth approximately $315,290,000. Synovus Financial Corp grew its holdings in Southern by 72.4% in the third quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 3,077,959 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $277,570,000 after purchasing an additional 1,293,072 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Southern by 4.6% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 24,521,339 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $2,203,386,000 after purchasing an additional 1,075,768 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Southern by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 102,790,453 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $8,461,710,000 after buying an additional 698,422 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of SO traded down $3.49 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $89.07. The stock had a trading volume of 8,268,764 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,535,919. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60. The company has a market cap of $97.70 billion, a PE ratio of 22.21, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46. The Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $67.53 and a fifty-two week high of $94.45. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $88.03 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $87.35.

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Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last issued its 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 business had revenue of $6.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.90 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.23% and a net margin of 16.47%. On average, equities analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.23%. Southern's dividend payout ratio is currently 71.82%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on SO. Mizuho boosted their target price on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Scotiabank raised their target price on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Southern in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Guggenheim lowered shares of Southern from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $91.46.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In other Southern news, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was 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 directly owns 13,236 shares in the company, valued at $1,138,296. This represents a 52.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, 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 sale, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 47,855 shares of company stock worth $4,348,784. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.