BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S Grows Stock Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S boosted its stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 367.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 145,808 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 114,628 shares during the period. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S’s holdings in Southern were worth $12,003,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Southern by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,440,982 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $200,943,000 after purchasing an additional 64,328 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Southern by 20.8% in the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 778,774 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $64,109,000 after buying an additional 133,908 shares during the last quarter. Freedom Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Southern by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Freedom Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,939 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $900,000 after buying an additional 401 shares during the period. Commerce Bank raised its holdings in shares of Southern by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 155,310 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $12,785,000 after acquiring an additional 4,321 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Square LLC lifted its stake in Southern by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Capital Square LLC now owns 24,800 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,070,000 after acquiring an additional 953 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on SO. Guggenheim lowered shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Morgan Stanley reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Southern in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Southern from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $94.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $92.00.

Insider Activity 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 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 directly owns 13,236 shares in the company, valued at $1,138,296. This trade represents a 52.35 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the company’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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 106,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,946,985.28. This trade represents a 23.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 47,855 shares of company stock valued at $4,348,784 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Southern Price Performance

SO opened at $91.69 on Friday. The Southern Company has a 1 year low of $71.66 and a 1 year high of $94.45. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $89.31 and a 200-day moving average price of $87.30. The firm has a market cap of $100.88 billion, a PE ratio of 22.87, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.66.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its earnings results 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.90 billion. Sell-side analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. Southern’s payout ratio is currently 71.82%.

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.