CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co Reduces Holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co reduced its holdings in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 4.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 561,597 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 27,559 shares during the period. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co owned about 0.05% of Southern worth $46,216,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Syverson Strege & Co increased its holdings in Southern by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Syverson Strege & Co now owns 4,264 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $351,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. Providence Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Southern by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Providence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 41,073 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,381,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the period. Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC lifted its stake in shares of Southern by 15.9% during the 4th quarter. Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC now owns 895 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $74,000 after buying an additional 123 shares in the last quarter. Elevate Wealth Advisory Inc. increased its stake in Southern by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Elevate Wealth Advisory Inc. now owns 6,200 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $510,000 after buying an additional 123 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Missouri Trust & Investment Co raised its holdings in Southern by 23.1% during the fourth quarter. Missouri Trust & Investment Co now owns 671 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $55,000 after acquiring an additional 126 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Southern Stock Up 1.3 %

SO stock opened at $91.69 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $89.31 and a two-hundred day moving average of $87.33. The Southern Company has a 12 month low of $70.70 and a 12 month high of $94.45. The company has a market cap of $100.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.87, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.39.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 12.23% and a net margin of 16.47%. The firm had revenue of $6.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.90 billion. As a group, analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 71.82%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on SO shares. Mizuho upped their target price 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. Morgan Stanley restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Southern in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Southern from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $94.00 price target for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Guggenheim cut Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $92.00.

Insider Transactions at Southern

In other news, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.00, for a total value of $1,250,440.00. Following 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the firm’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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 106,819 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,946,985.28. This represents a 23.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 47,855 shares of company stock worth $4,348,784 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.