The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Stock Holdings Boosted by Mariner LLC

Mariner LLC boosted its position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 1.8% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 384,075 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 6,720 shares during the period. Mariner LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $31,617,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Southern by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 102,790,453 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $8,461,710,000 after purchasing an additional 698,422 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Southern by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 25,050,209 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,056,441,000 after acquiring an additional 528,870 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter worth $848,019,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,599,710 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $543,288,000 after purchasing an additional 194,114 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Southern in the 4th quarter valued at $315,290,000. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Southern Stock Down 0.2 %

SO opened at $90.97 on Wednesday. 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 quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.67. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $88.96 and a 200 day moving average price of $87.29. The firm has a market cap of $99.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.39.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted 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 firm 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%. Research analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were issued a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.17%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 71.82%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. UBS Group upped their price objective 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Southern from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $94.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Southern in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Guggenheim downgraded Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $92.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Southern news, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the firm’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 owns 13,236 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,138,296. This trade represents a 52.35 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.12, for a total value of $2,997,532.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 106,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,946,985.28. The trade was a 23.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 47,855 shares of company stock valued at $4,348,784. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.