Meeder Advisory Services Inc. Sells 471 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Meeder Advisory Services Inc. lowered its holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 2.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 19,765 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 471 shares during the period. Meeder Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $1,627,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in SO. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in Southern during the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. YANKCOM Partnership acquired a new stake in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter worth $26,000. WFA Asset Management Corp increased its position in shares of Southern by 84.9% in the fourth quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 429 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares during the period. Valley National Advisers Inc. raised its stake in Southern by 244.4% in the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 434 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 308 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in Southern during the fourth quarter worth about $35,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $9,148,284.90. The trade was a 1.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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. The trade was a 52.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 47,855 shares of company stock valued at $4,348,784. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Southern Stock Performance

Southern stock opened at $91.42 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $87.83 and a 200-day moving average of $87.31. The company has a market capitalization of $100.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.80, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46. The Southern Company has a 1 year low of $67.53 and a 1 year high of $94.45. 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 announced its quarterly earnings results 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 business 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%. On average, equities research analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current 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 3.15%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 71.82%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on SO. Scotiabank boosted their target price 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. Guggenheim downgraded shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Southern in a report on Thursday, March 20th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Mizuho raised their price objective on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. One equities 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Southern currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $91.46.

About Southern

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.