Advisors Asset Management Inc. Buys 1,640 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 3.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 49,401 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,640 shares during the quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $4,067,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Southern by 4.6% in the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Southern by 3.0% in the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Southern in the 4th quarter valued at about $315,290,000. Synovus Financial Corp grew its position in shares of Southern by 72.4% in the 3rd quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 3,077,959 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $277,570,000 after purchasing an additional 1,293,072 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi grew its position in shares of Southern by 11.4% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 2,780,137 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $230,807,000 after purchasing an additional 284,022 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Southern Trading Up 0.5 %

NYSE:SO opened at $90.01 on Friday. The Southern Company has a twelve month low of $67.53 and a twelve month high of $94.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $86.53 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $87.24. The company has a market cap of $98.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.51 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $6.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.90 billion. Southern had a net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 12.23%. As a group, analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were issued a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. Southern’s payout ratio is presently 71.82%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $9,946,985.28. This represents a 23.16 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.00, for a total value of $1,250,440.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 13,236 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,138,296. This trade represents a 52.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 47,855 shares of company stock valued at $4,348,784. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on SO. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Mizuho boosted 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. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Southern from $88.00 to $91.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Guggenheim lowered Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $91.00.

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.