Employees Retirement System of Texas Decreases Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Employees Retirement System of Texas cut its position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 9.9% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 109,404 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 12,027 shares during the quarter. Employees Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in Southern were worth $9,006,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 13,236 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,138,296. This represents a 52.35 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.12, for a total value of $2,997,532.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now 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 over the last 90 days. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Southern Stock Performance

NYSE SO opened at $89.07 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $97.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.21, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.39. The Southern Company has a 1-year low of $67.53 and a 1-year high of $94.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.66. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $88.14 and a two-hundred day moving average of $87.32.

Southern (NYSE:SO) 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). Southern had a net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 12.23%. The company had revenue of $6.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.90 billion. As a group, analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th were issued a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.23%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 71.82%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on SO. Guggenheim lowered Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Scotiabank raised their price objective 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 research report on Thursday, March 20th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Mizuho upped their price target on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Southern currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $91.46.

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.