Edgar Lomax Co. VA Has $16.55 Million Stock Holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Edgar Lomax Co. VA decreased its stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 1.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 201,020 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 3,895 shares during the period. Edgar Lomax Co. VA’s holdings in Southern were worth $16,548,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SO. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter worth approximately $848,019,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Southern in the 4th quarter valued at $315,290,000. Marshall Wace LLP increased its stake in shares of Southern by 325.7% in the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 4,322,931 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $355,864,000 after buying an additional 3,307,527 shares during the period. Synovus Financial Corp raised its position in shares of Southern by 72.4% during the third quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 3,077,959 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $277,570,000 after acquiring an additional 1,293,072 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its stake in shares of Southern by 562.9% during the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,368,788 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $112,679,000 after acquiring an additional 1,162,288 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Southern

In related news, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of Southern 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 sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.61, for a total value of $100,811.25. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 102,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,148,284.90. This trade represents a 1.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 47,855 shares of company stock valued at $4,348,784 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SO has been the subject of a number of research reports. Guggenheim lowered Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. 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 note on Monday, February 3rd. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Southern in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Southern from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $94.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $92.00.

Southern Trading Up 1.3 %

NYSE:SO opened at $91.69 on Friday. 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 business’s 50-day simple moving average is $89.31 and its 200-day simple moving average is $87.33. The Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $70.70 and a fifty-two week high of $94.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $100.88 billion, a PE ratio of 22.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.39.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced 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 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 the consensus estimate of $5.90 billion. Sell-side analysts expect 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. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were issued a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.14%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 71.82%.

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.