The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Shares Bought by Parallel Advisors LLC

Parallel Advisors LLC raised its position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 10.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 12,685 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,148 shares during the quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $1,044,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Southern by 4.6% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 24,521,339 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,203,386,000 after acquiring an additional 1,075,768 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Southern by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,599,710 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $543,288,000 after acquiring an additional 194,114 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter valued at $315,290,000. Synovus Financial Corp lifted its position in shares of Southern by 72.4% in the third quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 3,077,959 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $277,570,000 after acquiring an additional 1,293,072 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi lifted its position in shares of Southern by 11.4% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 2,780,137 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $230,807,000 after acquiring an additional 284,022 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Southern news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.61, for a total transaction of $100,811.25. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 102,090 shares in the company, valued at $9,148,284.90. This trade represents a 1.09 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 47,855 shares of company stock worth $4,348,784. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Southern Stock Performance

Southern stock opened at $89.65 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $86.39 and its 200-day moving average is $87.22. The company has a market cap of $98.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46. 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 Southern Company has a 12 month low of $67.53 and a 12 month high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analysts’ expectations of $5.90 billion. Equities analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were paid 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 3.21%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 71.82%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on SO. Mizuho upped 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. Scotiabank increased their target price on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Guggenheim downgraded Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Southern has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $90.54.

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.