Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co Makes New Investment in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co bought a new stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 82,122 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $6,760,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. WINTON GROUP Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter valued at $206,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in Southern by 6.5% in the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,715,968 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $141,258,000 after purchasing an additional 104,798 shares during the last quarter. Korea Investment CORP grew its position in Southern by 4.2% in the 4th quarter. Korea Investment CORP now owns 844,558 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $69,524,000 after purchasing an additional 33,847 shares during the last quarter. Heritage Wealth Advisors increased its stake in shares of Southern by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Heritage Wealth Advisors now owns 6,327 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $521,000 after purchasing an additional 153 shares during the period. Finally, Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Southern by 19.9% during the fourth quarter. Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. now owns 5,281 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $435,000 after buying an additional 878 shares during the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE SO opened at $90.12 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $87.20 and its 200 day simple moving average is $87.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $98.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.47, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46. 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 Southern Company has a 52-week low of $67.53 and a 52-week 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 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. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th were given a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.20%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 71.82%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the 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 $9,946,985.28. This represents a 23.16 % 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, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 $9,148,284.90. The trade was a 1.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 47,855 shares of company stock valued at $4,348,784. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on SO shares. Guggenheim lowered Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. UBS Group lifted 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. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Southern in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Mizuho boosted their price target on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target 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.