The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Shares Acquired by Optiver Holding B.V.

Optiver Holding B.V. raised its position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 31.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,733 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 890 shares during the period. Optiver Holding B.V.’s holdings in Southern were worth $307,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Southern by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 102,790,453 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $8,461,710,000 after acquiring an additional 698,422 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Southern by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 25,050,209 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,056,441,000 after purchasing an additional 528,870 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Southern during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $848,019,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Southern by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,599,710 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $543,288,000 after acquiring an additional 194,114 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP raised its position in shares of Southern by 325.7% during the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 4,322,931 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $355,864,000 after acquiring an additional 3,307,527 shares in the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Southern

In related news, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,236 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,138,296. This trade represents a 52.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 106,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,946,985.28. The trade was a 23.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 47,855 shares of company stock worth $4,348,784 in the last quarter. 0.16% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SO has been the subject of a number of research reports. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Morgan Stanley restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Southern in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Southern from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $94.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $92.54.

Southern Price Performance

Shares of SO opened at $90.77 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $99.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.39. 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’s fifty day moving average is $89.87 and its 200-day moving average is $87.35. The Southern Company has a one year low of $73.20 and a one year high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.51 by ($0.01). Southern had a net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 12.23%. The firm had revenue of $6.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.90 billion. Equities analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be given a dividend of $0.74 per share. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.26%. This is an increase from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is 73.82%.

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.