APG Asset Management N.V. Reduces Holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

APG Asset Management N.V. lessened its position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 9.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 326,612 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 32,350 shares during the period. APG Asset Management N.V.’s holdings in Southern were worth $25,965,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of SO. Syverson Strege & Co grew its stake in Southern by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Syverson Strege & Co now owns 4,264 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $351,000 after buying an additional 117 shares during the period. Providence Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Southern by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Providence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 41,073 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,381,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC raised its holdings in Southern by 15.9% in the fourth quarter. Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC now owns 895 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $74,000 after acquiring an additional 123 shares in the last quarter. Elevate Wealth Advisory Inc. raised its holdings in Southern by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Elevate Wealth Advisory Inc. now owns 6,200 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $510,000 after acquiring an additional 123 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hobbs Group Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Southern by 8.0% during the third quarter. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC now owns 1,678 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $151,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Southern Trading Up 1.2 %

NYSE SO opened at $87.89 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $96.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.92, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.39. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $88.44 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $87.27. 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 Southern Company has a 52 week low of $67.53 and a 52 week high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted 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%. As a group, analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced 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. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 71.82%.

Insider Transactions at Southern

In other news, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,236 shares in the company, valued at $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 available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the firm’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 directly owns 106,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,946,985.28. This represents a 23.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 47,855 shares of company stock valued at $4,348,784. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on SO shares. Morgan Stanley restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Southern in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Guggenheim lowered shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Southern from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $94.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Nine investment 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 presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $92.00.

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.