Capital Group Private Client Services Inc. Has $3.44 Million Stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Capital Group Private Client Services Inc. cut its stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 73.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 41,761 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 112,893 shares during the period. Capital Group Private Client Services Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $3,438,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in SO. Capital Square LLC grew its holdings in shares of Southern by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Capital Square LLC now owns 24,800 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,070,000 after acquiring an additional 953 shares in the last quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Southern in the 4th quarter worth about $125,000. MSH Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Southern during the fourth quarter worth about $1,667,000. Marshall Wace LLP grew 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 during the period. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Southern by 5.2% in the fourth quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 229,905 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $18,926,000 after purchasing an additional 11,384 shares during the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on SO. Mizuho boosted their price objective on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Southern from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $94.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Guggenheim downgraded shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Southern in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Southern presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $92.00.

Southern Price Performance

SO opened at $91.69 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $89.31 and a 200-day moving average price of $87.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $100.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.87, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.39. The Southern Company has a 12-month low of $70.70 and a 12-month high of $94.45. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 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 business had revenue of $6.34 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.90 billion. Equities analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were issued a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.14%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is 71.82%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In other Southern news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at $9,946,985.28. This trade represents a 23.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 13,236 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,138,296. The trade was a 52.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 47,855 shares of company stock valued at $4,348,784 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.