Keybank National Association OH Sells 217 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Keybank National Association OH cut its stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 0.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 125,996 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 217 shares during the quarter. Keybank National Association OH’s holdings in Southern were worth $10,372,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in SO. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in Southern by 2.5% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 303,420 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $28,567,000 after acquiring an additional 7,527 shares in the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. boosted its position in shares of Southern by 31.6% in the 3rd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 138,447 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $12,485,000 after purchasing an additional 33,266 shares in the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. grew its stake in Southern by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 487,433 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $43,957,000 after buying an additional 7,460 shares during the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. increased its position in Southern by 28.2% during the 3rd quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 123,834 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $11,167,000 after buying an additional 27,226 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PDS Planning Inc raised its stake in Southern by 24.2% in the third quarter. PDS Planning Inc now owns 3,717 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $335,000 after buying an additional 724 shares during the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Southern

In other news, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 13,236 shares in the company, valued at $1,138,296. This trade represents a 52.35 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of Southern stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.90, for a total transaction of $100,503.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 88,393 shares in the company, valued at $7,592,958.70. This represents a 1.31 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 16,835 shares of company stock worth $1,451,754. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on SO shares. Guggenheim lowered Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Mizuho lifted their price objective 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $90.54.

Southern Price Performance

Shares of SO opened at $89.95 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $98.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.43, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.53. The business’s 50-day moving average is $84.68 and its two-hundred day moving average is $86.94. 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 fifty-two week low of $67.53 and a fifty-two week high of $94.45.

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 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 company had revenue of $6.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.90 billion. Research analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.20%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.