The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Stock Position Increased by Geode Capital Management LLC

Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 2.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 25,050,209 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 528,870 shares during the quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $2,056,441,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. lifted its position in shares of Southern by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 170,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $15,303,000 after acquiring an additional 988 shares during the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 2,078.6% during the third quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 152,675 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $13,769,000 after purchasing an additional 145,667 shares during the last quarter. Ascent Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Southern by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 3,607 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $325,000 after purchasing an additional 221 shares during the period. Centiva Capital LP purchased a new position in Southern in the 3rd quarter worth about $232,000. Finally, Hilltop Holdings Inc. raised its holdings in Southern by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter. Hilltop Holdings Inc. now owns 20,555 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,854,000 after buying an additional 953 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Southern news, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.00, for a total transaction 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 $1,138,296. The trade was a 52.35 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.12, for a total transaction of $2,997,532.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 106,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,946,985.28. This trade represents a 23.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 47,855 shares of company stock worth $4,348,784. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. UBS Group boosted their target price 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. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Southern in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Guggenheim lowered Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $91.46.

Southern Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of Southern stock opened at $91.99 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $87.51 and a 200-day simple moving average of $87.27. The Southern Company has a 52-week low of $67.53 and a 52-week high of $94.45. The firm has a market cap of $100.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.94, a P/E/G 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.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted 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 return on equity of 12.23% and a net margin of 16.47%. The business had revenue of $6.34 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.90 billion. On average, equities research analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were given a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.13%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.