B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG Increases Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG grew its holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 4.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 61,821 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,412 shares during the quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG’s holdings in Southern were worth $5,089,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in SO. Syverson Strege & Co raised its position in Southern by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Syverson Strege & Co now owns 4,264 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $351,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares during the last quarter. Abel Hall LLC raised its holdings in shares of Southern by 1.8% in the third quarter. Abel Hall LLC now owns 6,830 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $616,000 after buying an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. Providence Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Southern by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Providence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 41,073 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,381,000 after buying an additional 120 shares during the period. Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC grew its holdings in shares of Southern by 15.9% during the fourth quarter. Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC now owns 895 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $74,000 after buying an additional 123 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Elevate Wealth Advisory Inc. raised its stake in Southern by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Elevate Wealth Advisory Inc. now owns 6,200 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $510,000 after acquiring an additional 123 shares during the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Southern Stock Up 0.9 %

SO opened at $91.99 on Tuesday. 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 company has a market cap of $100.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.94, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46. The Southern Company has a one year low of $67.53 and a one year high of $94.45. The business’s fifty day moving average is $87.51 and its two-hundred day moving average is $87.27.

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 business had revenue of $6.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.90 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.23% and a net margin of 16.47%. Analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th were given a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.13%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is currently 71.82%.

Insider Activity at Southern

In other news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the business’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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 106,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,946,985.28. The trade was a 23.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 102,090 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,148,284.90. This trade represents a 1.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 47,855 shares of company stock valued at $4,348,784. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SO has been the topic of several analyst reports. Scotiabank lifted their target price on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Southern in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Guggenheim cut shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Southern has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $91.46.

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.