18,006 Shares in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Acquired by AssuredPartners Investment Advisors LLC

AssuredPartners Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 18,006 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,482,000.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. NEOS Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Southern by 31.6% during the 4th quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC now owns 67,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,515,000 after buying an additional 16,076 shares in the last quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd raised its stake in Southern by 30.1% during the 4th quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 72,752 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,989,000 after acquiring an additional 16,846 shares during the period. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co purchased a new position in Southern during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $6,760,000. WINTON GROUP Ltd bought a new position in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter worth approximately $206,000. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Southern by 6.5% in the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,715,968 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $141,258,000 after purchasing an additional 104,798 shares in the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Insider Activity

In other Southern news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.61, for a total value of $100,811.25. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 102,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,148,284.90. This represents a 1.09 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of Southern stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.00, for a total value of $1,250,440.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 13,236 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,138,296. This trade represents a 52.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 47,855 shares of company stock valued at $4,348,784. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Southern Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE SO opened at $89.00 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $97.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.19, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46. The Southern Company has a 12-month low of $67.53 and a 12-month high of $94.45. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $87.07 and its 200-day moving average price is $87.24.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 earnings per share (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 the consensus estimate of $5.90 billion. Southern had a net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 12.23%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were given a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.24%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.